Biography

08/03/1844 - 03/16/1912

Captain John Morgan Greer (R41) Armstrong and Butler Counties, 1877-1884

Early Life: 

Born August 3, 1844, Jefferson Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, son of Thomas and Margaret Jane Morgan Greer; educated, home and common schools, attending Connoquenessing Academy, Zelienople, Pennsylvania; teacher, 1861-1862; Sargent, Civil War, 1862-1863, 1864-1865; Captain Pennsylvania, National Guard, 1866, married Julia S. Butler, 1864, children, Hattie, Thomas, John and Robert; attorney; Butler County, bar; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1877-1884; unsuccessful republican candidate, Secretary of Interior, 1882; Inspector, Soldiers Orphans Schools, Governor James A. Beaver, 1887-1891, resigned; founder supporter, trustee, Slippery Rock State Normal School, 1889; President Judge, 17th Judicial District, 1893, President Judge 15^th Judicial District, redistricting, 1895;  died, March 16, 1912 (aged 67) interment North Side Cemetery, Butler, Butler County, Pennsylvania.  

 Early Life:   

Enlisted, 1862, Company D, 137th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, nine-month service; battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, 1863; re-enlisted, March 1864, Battery E, 2d Pennsylvania Artillery, reorganized, 2nd Provisional Artillery; Sargent, Battery B, Ninth United States Army Corps;  returned to action, Wilderness; Spotsylvania; wounded, shot through the left thigh at the Battle of the Crater, part of the siege of Petersburg; military hospital, March 1865; returned, Appomattox, mustered out with his regiment, February 1866, commissioned Captain, Pennsylvania National Guard. 

Teacher; read law, Judge Charles McCandless; admitted, Butler County bar, September 23, 1867; entered private practice; Butler County district attorney, 1868; law partnership, Judge Charles McCandless, 1873. 

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

Founder supporter, trustee, Slippery Rock State Normal School, 1889; now known as Slippery Rock University; member, Grand Army of the Republic Post 105

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican Pennsylvania State Senate, 41st district Armstrong and Butler Counties, 1877-1884; committee assignments, Federal Relations, Insurance, Judiciary Apportionment (Chairman), Judiciary General, New Counties New Seats. 

Unsuccessful Republican candidate, Secretary of Interior, 1882.

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

Inspector of the Soldiers Orphans Schools Governor James A. Beaver, 1887- resigned 1891. 

President Judge, 17th Judicial District, 1893, President Judge 15th Judicial District, redistricting, 1895. 

Cited: 

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

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1883). Smull, W.P., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 765, 770-772, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 731.

John Morgan Greer (1844-1912) - Find a Grave Memorial