Biography

01/31/1842 - 09/22/1919

Oliver Perry Bechtel (D10) Schuylkill County 1874 (D29) Schuylkill (Part) County 1875-1876

Early Life:

Oliver Perry Bechtel, born January 31, 1842, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania; son of John and Eliza S. Bieber Bechtel; common school education, Middleport; teacher; Allentown Seminary; taught, Arcadian Institute, Orwigsburg, 1861; school director, Mahanoy City, 1862-1864; book-keeper, paymaster Preston Coal and Improvement Company; read law; admitted, bar, 1866; opened, private law practice; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1874-1876; unanimous nomination, Democratic Convention, judge, Court of Common Pleas, twenty-first Judicial District, 1877-1907; married, Mary Elizabeth Epting Bechtel, children, Florie Bechtel, Harry Oliver Bechtel, Caroline Elizabeth Bechtel Knittle, Virgie Bechtel;  died, September 22, 1919 (aged 77), Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; interment, Charles Baber Cemetery, Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. 

Early Career:

Teacher, Wayne Township, Schuylkill County, West Brunswick Township, two years; Allentown Seminary; taught, Arcadian Institute, Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, 1861; school director, Mahanoy City,  Pennsylvania, 1862-1864; book-keeper, paymaster Preston Coal and Improvement Company, Girardville, Pennsylvania; read law, office of Messrs. Hughes and Dewees, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1862-1865; studied as a student, office of his brother, James B. Bechtel, Reading, Pennsylvania; admitted, bar, 1866; opened, private law practice.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 10th district, Schuylkill County, 1874.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 29th district, Schuylkill County 1875-1876; committee assignments, Corporations, Judiciary General, Pensions and Gratuities. 

Unanimous nomination, Democratic Convention, judge, Court of Common Pleas, twenty-first Judicial District, 1877-1907.

Legacy:

Son, Judge Harry Oliver Bechtel, elected judge, Twenty-first Judicial District to succeed his father, 1907, reelected, 1917. Judge Bechtel's family has held the judgeship, Twenty-first Judicial District during a period of fifty consecutive years. 

Cited:

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

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1876) Smull, J.A., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 605, 610-612.

Oliver Perry Bechtel (1842-1919) - Find a Grave Memorial