Biography

08/24/1800 - 06/05/1891

Judge John Walls (D14) Lycoming, Union and Snyder Counties 1865-1867 

Early Life:

Judge John Walls, born August 24,1800, Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, son of Isaac and Mary Shepley Walls; school, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; sixteen employed, McCleary's Mercantile, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; engaged, mercantile, grainer, cement; married, Margaret Adlum Green, 1832, (d.1858) children; Abbot Green, Augustus Green, Mary Ellen Maise, Sarah McCleary, George Washington, Margaret “Maggie” Green, John Johnson, William Cameron; married, Sarah J. Wilson; engaged, banking, railroading; appointed, associate Judge, Union County, 1861-1865, resigned; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1865-1867; died, June 5, 1891 (aged 90) Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; interment Lewisburg Cemetery, Lewisburg, Union County, Pennsylvania

Early Career:

Left home at age fourteen to attend school, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; sixteen employed, McCleary's Mercantile, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; training period, McCleary's Mercantile, sent to Milton, Pennsylvania, work under the supervision of Michael Hoff, 1818;  opened his own store, McCleary and Walls, McKee's Half Falls, 1827; opened two more branches, Muncy, 1829, Lewisburg, 1831; engaged, grain dealer; contract, Pennsylvania Canal Company, hydraulic cement, 1827-1829; formed J. and J. Walls, Lewisburg, with brother Johnston, 1844. 

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

Board of Directors, Bank of Northumberland; founder, Lewisburg Dimes Savings Institution, chartered, 1853, re-chartered as, life-long member, Board of Directors, Lewisburg National Bank, 1865; charter member, one of the founders, Lewisburg, Centre, Spruce Creek Railroad, 1853, Lewisburg linked, Juniata County, other sections of the Susquehanna Valley, 1869, director, Union National Bank; member, Lewisburg; building committee, Union County Court House, completed, 1857; manager, Lewisburg and Mifflinburg Turnpike Company, reestablished by the state legislature, 1858; president, board of directors, Lewisburg Gas Works, 1866; director, Lewisburg Bridge Company, 1865-1869.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Appointed, Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin, associate Judge, Union County, 1861-1865, resigned. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 14th district, Lycoming, Union and Snyder Counties, 1865-1867; committee assignments, Accounts, Finance, Roads and Bridges.

Legacy:

Suffering from a cancerous growth, John Walls submitted to the amputation of his right hand, 1880; afterward, he learned to write with his left hand; lump developed in his throat, traveled to Philadelphia for treatment by a noted surgery; collapsed while recovering, Pennsylvania Hospital, died, June 5, 1891.

Cited:

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

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1866). Smull, J.A., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 257, 261-263.

Lewisburg Chronicle (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania) Thursday June 11, 1891, Page 1 

John Walls (1800-1891) - Find a Grave Memorial