Rees Hill

Rees Hill
16th Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
In office
1816–1816
Preceded by Jacob Holgate
Succeeded by William Davidson
18th Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
In office
1819–1819
Preceded by William Davidson
Succeeded by Joseph Lawrence
Personal details
Born April 1776
Virginia
Died November 24, 1852 (aged 76)
near Winchester, Virginia
Political party Democratic Republican

Rees Hill (April 1776 – November 24, 1852) was a U.S. army colonel[1][2] in the War of 1812, a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Greene County,[3] speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and later a Pennsylvania State Senator.

Military service

As a colonel in the U.S. army during the War of 1812, he was stationed at Erie, Pennsylvania. On July 30, 1813, his detachment received orders to join the northwestern army.[4][5] He was commended by then-general (and future president) William Henry Harrison in a letter to President James Madison.[6]

Rees Hill (along with Thomas Sargeant of Harrisburg, Cromwell Pearce of Chester County, and Samuel McKean of Bradford County) was appointed as an aide de camp to the commander in chief of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[7]

After Military Service

On March 3, 1819, Congress and President James Monroe approved an act to reimburse Hill for money he had spent for expenses of his troops during the War of 1812.[8][9]

Political career

Hill was a member of the Democratic Republican party.[10]

Hill was Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in two non-consecutive years (1816 and 1819).[11] His first election as speaker took place on December 5, 1815.[12] He was elected as speaker a second time on December 10, 1816.[13] On December 1, 1818, he again won election as speaker with 74 votes (other votes were: John Purdon – 9, Samuel Bond – 1, Phineas Jenks – 1, and William N. Irvine – 1).[14] On December 7, 1819 (for the session beginning in December, 1819 and lasting through most of 1820), he came in third in a vote for speaker with 14 of the 93 votes cast. (The speaker elected was Joseph Lawrence with 56 votes. Other votes were: Phineas Jenks – 21, Wilson Smith – 1, and William Lehman – 1).[15][16]

He served as chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means in the Pennsylvania House in 1820[17] and was elected a Pennsylvania State Senator in November, 1820. Service in the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 20th district, began on December 6, 1820.[18] He was elected as a Pennsylvania State Senator again two years later.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Public Debt", Berks and Schuylkill Journal, April 28, 1821: 2
  3. ↑ "A List of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of", Berks and Schuylkill Journal, November 15, 1817: 2
  4. ↑ "Erie, July 30, 1813", True American, August 11, 1813: 3
  5. ↑ "(Advertisement)", True American, September 21, 1814: 4
  6. ↑ Lundy's Lane Historical Society (1902), "The documentary history of the campaign upon the Niagara frontier ...", Tribune (India) 5: 141–142
  7. ↑ "Appointments by the Governor", Berks and Schuylkill Journal, November 14, 1818: 2
  8. ↑ "The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America", National Advocate, June 7, 1819: 2
  9. ↑ United States (1846), The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America 6, Charle C. Little and James Brown, p. 231
  10. ↑ "From the Waynsburgh Messenger Sept 21 to the Republicans", Washington Reporter, September 30, 1816: 2
  11. ↑ Scharf, John Thomas; Westcott, Thompson (1884), History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884: 1609–1884, Everts, p. 1766
  12. ↑ "(Legislative)", National Standard, December 27, 1815: 3
  13. ↑ "(Legislative)", American Beacon, December 13, 1816: 3
  14. ↑ Spirit of the Times 1 (6), December 8, 1818: 3 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ↑ Carlisle Republican 1 (6), December 14, 1819: 23 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ↑ "From the National Intelligencer. State Concerns.", American (New York), December 15, 1819: 2
  17. ↑ "Letters", Franklin Gazette, February 22, 1820: 2
  18. ↑ "Legislative", Free Press, November 16, 1820: 2
  19. ↑ "Election Returns", Berks and Schuylkill Journal, November 2, 1822: 2

External links