Member Biography

Charles P. Devlin 

Member
Sessions Office Position District Party
1889-1890       3 Democrat

COUNTIES: Philadelphia  


Biography

01/21/1849 - 10/01/1930


Private Charles P. Devlin (D3) Philadelphia (Part) County 1889-1890  

Early Life: 

Private Charles P. Devlin, born January 21, 1849, old Kensington District, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, son of Hugh and Mary Toner Devlin; educated, public schools; private, Civil War 1861-1865; occupation malster, hotelier; school board; elected, Pennsylvania State Senate; married, Elizabeth Cavanaugh, died, pneumonia, 1893; married, Mary F. Delaney, 1893; died, October 1, 1930, Trappe, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; interment, Cathedral Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. 

 Early Career:

Enlisted, drummer, August 3, 1861, age 12 years and 8 months, Company F, 73rd Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, mother, objected his enlistment; participated some big battles, Cross Keys; 2d Bull Run; Fredericksburg; Mud March; Chancellorsville; Gettysburg; Tennessee Campaign; Chattanooga; Missionary Ridge (where he was one of ninety to survive in a regiment of 600 soldiers); honorably discharged December 31, 1863; reenlisted, veteran private, same company and regiment; January 1864; Atlanta Campaign; took part in Sherman’s March to the Sea; Raleigh; and returned to Washington where he mustered out on July 14, 1865. 

Tavern owner, 20th Ward; operated hotel, 11th Street and Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, 25 years; after Senate, moved, Trappe, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 1910, purchased, historic “Trappe Hotel.” 

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

Member, Meade Post 1, Grand Army of the Republic; member, Encampment No.2 Union Veteran Legion. 

Pennsylvania Politics:

Served several terms, secretary seventeen ward, sectional school board.

Elected, Democrat, Pennsylvania State Senate, 3rd district, Philadelphia (Part) County, 1889-1890; defeated, incumbent, Francis A. Osbourne; committee assignments, Accounts, Congressional Apportionment, Compare Bills, Pension and Gratuities, Public Buildings, Vice and Immorality. Removed, Senate, May 8, 1889, voting irregularities, no intentional fraud, Francis A. Osbourne seated.   

Cited: 

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

Cox, Harold. Senate1790-1869 (wilkes.edu). Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1889). Cochran, T.B., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 687, 693-695, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 656.

Charles P. Devlin (1849-1930) - Find a Grave Memorial