Biography

10/07/1757 - 07/27/1824

William Rodman, Jr. (Democratic-Republicans2) Bucks, Chester, Montgomery Counties 1800-1801 (Democratic-Republicans2) Bucks County 1801-1804

Early Life:

William Rodman, Jr., born October 7, 1757, Bensalem Township, Bristol, Bucks County, Province of Pennsylvania, British Colonial America; completed preparatory education; private, Revolutionary War, brigade quartermaster, 1781; commanded, company, Whisky Rebellion, 1794; unsuccessful campaigns, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1789, 1790, 1791; justice of the peace 1791-1800; elected, Democratic-Republicans, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1800-1804; elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, 1811-1813; unsuccessful campaign, reelection, 1812; unsuccessful campaign, United States House of Representatives, Bucks County, 1814; died, July 27, 1824 (aged 66), Flushing, Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Saint James Episcopal Churchyard, Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Unsuccessful campaigns, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Bucks County, 1789, 1790, 1791.

Elected, Democratic-Republicans, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2nd district, Bucks, Chester, Montgomery Counties, 1800-1801.

Elected, Democratic-Republicans, Pennsylvania State Senate, 2nd district, Bucks County, 1801-1804.

Unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Bucks County, 1805.

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

Elected, Republican, United States House of Representatives, Pennsylvania 2nd District, 1811-1813; unsuccessful campaign, reelection, 1812. 

Unsuccessful campaign, United States House of Representatives, Bucks County, 1814.

Legacy: 

How did Flushing, Pennsylvania get its name? A small but very old settlement in Bensalem Township on Neshaminy Creek at the head of tidewater. It is on the Newportville Road, about three-fourths of a mile below Newportville, which is located on the opposite bank of the creek. Hugh B. Eastburn. Esq., Bristol, Pennsylvnia, a member of the Rodman family, says “Flushing, Bensalem Township, is supposed to have been named by the Rodmans, who emigrated from Flushing, England or Holland, to Flushing, Barbadoes, to Flushing, Rhode Island, to Bensalem.” The Rodmans owned extensive tracts of real estate in Bensalem. Joseph E. Sanford, Brooklyn, New York, says Flushing was “so named by Dr. John Rodman in 1715.” Hershey’s Directory of Bucks County notes the fact that in 1870 the village had a population of fifty, “employed principally in the extensive steam lumber mill and coal yard of Boileau andTyson.”

Cited:

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

MacReynolds, George. Place Names in Bucks County Pennsylvania, 2nd Edition. Doylestown, PA: The Bucks County Historical Society, 1955 

Flushing, Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania Genealogy

A New Nation Votes (tufts.edu)

William Rodman (1757-1824) - Find a Grave Memorial