Biography
a Senator from Pennsylvania; born in Edinburgh, Scotland, December 10, 1784; immigrated to the United States in 1791 with his parents, who settled in Butler County, Pa.; pursued classical studies; taught school for several years and then became engaged in surveying and agricultural pursuits; member, State house of representatives 1811-1812; member, State senate 1813-1819; elected as a Democratic Republican (later Crawford Republican) to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1819, to March 3, 1825; was not a candidate for reelection in 1824; chairman, Committee on Finance (Seventeenth Congress); Secretary of the United States Senate from December 12, 1825, to December 11, 1836; secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions from 1836 until his death in New York City December 14, 1868; interment in the crypt of the First Presbyterian Church.
Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress