Biography

01/12/1851 - 12/10/1931

Albert Everton Sisson (R49) Erie County 1901-1910 (R49) Erie County 1921-1924

Early Life: 

Albert Everton Sisson born January 12, 1851, Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York; son of Nathaniel and Salina Phillipps Sisson; common school education, Kingsville Academy, Ohio; Seminary, North East, Pennsylvania; teacher; studied law, admitted, Erie bar, 1881; married Lena Spencer, 1898, son Spencer Alec Sisson; chair, Republican Erie County committee, 1885-1886; district attorney, Erie, 1887-1893; solicitor, Erie County Commission; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1901-1908, president pro tempore, 1907-1908; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1921-1924; president pro tempore, 1907-1908, elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Auditor General 1909-1913; died, December 10, 1931 (aged 80) Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania; interment  Erie Cemetery, Erie, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 

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

Member, Pennsylvania Historical Commission, Pennsylvania State Bar Association, Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Society of New York, Erie Club, Harrisburg Club of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Elks Lodge of Erie, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Chair, Republican Erie County committee, 1885-1886; district attorney, 1887-1893; solicitor, Erie County Commission. 

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 49th district, Erie County, 1901-1910, president pro tempore, 1907-1908, chaired Centennial Affairs 1901, Game and Fisheries 1901-1904, Education 1905-1906, Railroads 1907-1908; committee assignments, Appropriations, Corporations, Education, Judiciary General, Municipal Affairs, New Counties and New County Seats, Public Printing, Public Supply of Heat, Light and Water; resigned, March 14, 1910. 

Member, joint caucus, re-electing Boies Penrose, United States Senate; member committee, selected George T. Oliver, replaced United States Senator Philander Knox. Member, committee investigating, state insurance department, 1906. Member, commission created to investigate all transactions in connection with the building and furnishing of the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Auditor General 1909-1913.

President, Council, National Defense, World War. 

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 49th district, Erie County, 1921-1924; committee assignments, Agriculture (Chairman), Appropriations, Congressional Apportionment, Corporations, Education, Finance, Game and Fisheries, Judiciary General, Judiciary Special, Legislative Apportionment, Mines and Mining, Municipal Affairs, Public Health and Sanitation, Public Road and Highways. 

Legacy: 

Became, first District Attorney through reelection, 1890, his being the first instance in Pennsylvania history which a prosecuting attorney of Erie County had been elected for two successive terms. Also, would first senator from Erie County to serve three terms. 

In 1909 and 1911, he, with others, secured the enactment of legislation in Pennsylvania that brought about the building of the splendid Perry's Victory Memorial at Put In Bay, commemorating the victory won by Commodore Perry and his fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie, and in 1913 he was instrumental in securing an appropriation by the state of Pennsylvania of the sum of $150,000 for raising and restoring the brig "Niagara" and "the erection of a permanent marker, arch or memorial at the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, commemorating the building of the fleet at that place" and in 1921, when a member of the Senate, he prepared, introduced and aided by Honorable J. Reed Craig, member of the House from Erie, secured the enactment into law of a bill providing that the Presque Isle peninsula and certain water property in the Bay of Presque Isle "be preserved, maintained, improved, enlarged, and forever held as a public park, to be known as Pennsylvania State Park at Erie. 

Cited

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

The Pennsylvania Manual, (1923-1924). Whitmore, R.E., (Compiler). Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 984, 989 Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 964.

History of Erie County, Pennsylvania By: John Elmer Reed, Historical Publishing Company Topeka-Indianapolis 1925.

A. Elverton Sisson (1851-1931) - Find a Grave Memorial