Biography

01/22/1804 - 09/11/1873

Doctor Wilmer Worthington (R2) Chester and Delaware Counties 1864 (R5) Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties 1865-1869

Early Life:

Doctor Wilmer Worthington, born January 22, 1804, West Goshen, Chester County, Pennsylvania; son of Amos and Jane Taylor Worthington; local school education; West Chester Academy; University of Pennsylvania, 1825, medical practice, West Chester, Pennsylvania; married, Elizabeth McClellan Hemphill Worthington, 1826, children, Malinda Marshall Hoopes, Emily Elizabeth Wood, Ann Jane Dallett, Antoinette E. Worthington, Amos Edward Worthington, Casper P. Worthington, Kate D. Marshall, William Hemphill Worthington, Amos Edward Worthington; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania House of Representatives 1833-1834; Appointed, Lazaretto Hospital, 1839-1841; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1864-1869, elected, Speaker, 1869; died, September 11, 1873, West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania; interment, Oaklands Cemetery, West Goshen Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.   

Early Career:
Medical student under the tutelage of William Darlington. Darlington a physician, who was also botanist, and politician, as a member, United States House of Representatives, Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district, 1819-1823.

Appointment, David Rittenhouse Porter, Lazaretto Hospital, Philadelphia; first quarantine hospital in America, 1839-1841.

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Co-founded, president, Chester County Medical Society; Pennsylvania, delegate, American Medical Association, Baltimore Convention, 1847; presided over, Pennsylvania Chapter, American Medical Association, 1850; co-editor, Medical Reporter, early journal published, Chester County Medical Society,1863-1866; president, Pennsylvania State Medical Society, vice president, Alumni Association, Medical Department, University of Pennsylvania. Directorships, Bank of Chester County, West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad Company, Oaklands Cemetery. Trustee, West Chester Academy. Presbyterian, he served as an elder and synod commissioner to the Presbyterian General Assembly.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1833-1834. 

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2nd district, Chester and Delaware Counties, 1864.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 5th district, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, 1865-1869, elected, Speaker, 1869; Chaired, Education, Library Committees each year of his terms; committee assignments, Finance, Judiciary Committees. Notable contributions Soldier’s Orphans Schools bill and legislation creating the Board of Public Charities. A major national issue, ratification, Fifteenth Amendment (suffrage), a measure that the Senator led to (18-15) passage, March 11, 1869.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Biography:

Not Currently available

Cited:

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members W". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Dr Wilmer Worthington (1804-1873) - Find a Grave Memorial