Elijah Reed Myer

Born: July 25, 1818, Wysox Township, Bradford County, PA.  Died: May 18, 1911, Canton Township, Bradford County, PA. Member of the House: Bradford County 1873-1874 and 1877-1878.  Affiliation: Republican.

Elijah Reed Myer was born and raised in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the common schools of Bradford County, and later became engaged in milling and farming.  Myer was married to the former Mary Frances Cochrane in 1847, and they had 6 children: Thomas Evans, Elizabeth Foster, Erskine Reed, Mollie White, Charles Malcom, and John Jefferson, who died in childhood.

Myer was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate and served from 1857-1860.  On July 27, 1861, he was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Surveyor of Customs for the United States at the Port of Philadelphia and served through 1867.

In November of 1872, Myer was elected to represent Bradford County in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, for which he served from 1873-1874 and again from 1877-1878.  During his first term in office, Myer had several committee assignments including Ways and Means, Counties and Townships, Corporations, Banks, and Manufacturers.  Myer was selected as the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee for his second term in 1874.

On January 2, 1877, Myer was elected the 94th Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.  During the 1877 and 1878 sessions when Myer was Speaker, the legislature created a new law that would prevent the sale of altered or tainted milk in Pennsylvania, through Act 143 of 1878.  Another significant event that occurred under Myer’s leadership as Speaker was the legislature’s creation of Pennsylvania’s 67th and last county, Lackawanna, after Act 21 of 1878 put forth a process in which new counties could be created.

Elijah Reed Myer died on May 18, 1911, in Canton Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania at the age of 92.  He is interred at Wysox Cemetery in Bradford County, Pennsylvania.