Biography

1819 - 11/18/1899

Captain Thomas Chalfant (D24) Columbia, Lycoming, Montour and Sullivan Counties 1873-1875

Early Life:

Captain Thomas Chalfant, born, 1819, city of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; married Eliza Hughes, 1842, two sons and two daughters blessed this union, of whom none survive but Charles, ex-publisher,  Danville Daily Sun, esquire; captain, Company D, 53th Regiment, Pennsylvania Emergency Militia, Civil War, 1863; carpenter; patternmaker; engaged, construction of sugar and cotton mills; druggist; postmaster, United States Postal Service, Danville, 1853-1861; editor, Danville Intelligencer, 1861-1899; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1867-1868, not a candidate for reelection, 1868; elected, Democrat  Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1871-1872, not a candidate for reelection, 1872; trustee, State Hospital for Insane, Danville, 1883-1899; elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1873-1875; president, Pennsylvania State Editorial Association, 1881-1889; editor, Danville Sun, 1883-1899; postmaster, United States Postal Service, Danville, 1885-1890, 1894-1899; died, November 18, 1899,Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania; interment, Odd Fellows Cemetery, Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania.

Early Career:

Captain, Company D, 53rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Emergency Militia, Civil War, 1863.

Entered partnership with his brother-in-law, Doctor Isaac Hughes, he opened and conducted a drugstore for many years.

Editor, Danville Intelligencer, 1861-1899; editor, Danville Sun, 1883-1899; president, Pennsylvania State Editorial Association, 1881-1889. 

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

Trustee, State Hospital for Insane, Danville, 1883-1899

Pennsylvania Politics: 

Postmaster, United States Postal Service, Danville, 1853-1861. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1867-1868, not a candidate for reelection, 1868.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1871-1872; not a candidate for reelection, 1872. 

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 24th district, Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Sullivan Counties, 1873-1875; committee assignments, Education, Finance, Public Printing and Vice and Immorality. 

Postmaster, United States Postal Service, Danville, 1885-1890, 1894-1899. 

Legacy: 

Ancestral history back to Robert Chalfant, a member of the Society of Friends, who, with William Penn, emigrated from Stoke Pogis, England, to America and settled on land at Doe Run, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Also, a descendant of John Peden on the maternal side, a Scotch-Irish Covenanter, who immigrated to the American Continent and settled in Pennsylvania in 1732. He was one of the founders of the Covenanters Church in Philadelphia, which is located on Spruce Street.

Cited: 

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

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1875). Smull, J.A., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 601, 606-608.

Northumberland County Democrat (Sunbury, Pennsylvania), Thursday, November 23, 1899, Page 1.

Capt Thomas Chalfant (1819-1899) - Find a Grave Memorial