Biography

02/07/1818 - 11/05/1893

Fayette County (1850), Fayette and Westmoreland Counties (1851)

DOWNER, James Paul, a Representative from Fayette and Westmoreland Counties; born, February 7, 1818 in Uniontown, Fayette County, Pa.; attended, Madison College; sergeant, Company H, 2nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (1847-1848, Mexican-American War); 2nd lieutenant, 2nd Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Infantry (1861, Civil War); private, Company C, 2nd Kansas Volunteer Cavalry (1862-1865, Civil War); in charge, Downer’s Guard, Saguache Militia (Ute War, 1879); saddler; elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1850 and 1851 terms; co-owner, Russell, Weddell and Majors, freighting business, Leavenworth, Ks. (1856); appointed, receiver, United States Land Office, Ogden, Ks. (1857-1859); town incorporator, Junction City, Ks. (1859); clerk, Butterfield Overland Stage Company, freighting business (1866-1868); mail carrier, Los Pinos Indian Agency, Saguache, Co. (1873-1874); died, November 5, 1893 in Saguache, Saguache County, Colorado; interred, Oak Grove Cemetery, South Union Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.