George M. Wertz
George Wertz | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 20th district | |
In office March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1925 | |
Preceded by | Edward Brooks |
Succeeded by | Anderson Walters |
President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate | |
In office May 25, 1911[1] – January 7, 1913 | |
Preceded by | William Crow |
Succeeded by | Daniel Gerberich |
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate from the 35th district | |
In office January 5, 1909 – January 7, 1913 | |
Preceded by | Jacob Stineman |
Succeeded by | Jacob Stineman |
Personal details | |
Born | Johnstown, Pennsylvania | July 19, 1856
Died | November 19, 1928 Johnstown, Pennsylvania | (aged 72)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Louisa Glitch |
George M. Wertz (July 19, 1856 – November 19, 1928) was a Republican politician, teacher and publisher from Pennsylvania.
George Munson Wertz was born near Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools, Ebensburg Academy, and the National Normal School in Lebanon, Ohio. He taught school from 1876 to 1884, and was a school director from 1886 to 1894. Wertz was a county commissioner from 1893 to 1896, and served as sheriff of Cambria County, Pennsylvania from 1897 to 1901. Elected a Republican member of the Board of School Directors in 1890, George additionally served as chairman of the Republican county committee. In 1893, the Senator became a three-year Cambria County commissioner, and in November 1897, Cambria County Sheriff. Through the influence of his iron manufacturer father in law, Wertz assumed a post as manager of the Cambria Steel Company, where his accomplishments included securing options for control of the Manufacturer's Water Company, Somerset County. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1909 to 1913, and served as the body's President pro tempore from 1911 to 1913. Wertz later organized and ran the Johnstown Daily Leader from 1911 to 1917, creating Cambria County's first afternoon newspaper. He was an ardent farmer and fruit grower.[2]
Wertz was elected to the Sixty-eighth Congress, but was defeated in the 1924 Republican primary. He sold real estate until his death in Johnstown. Interment in Grandview Cemetery, Johnstown. He belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church; the Summit Lodge Masons; the Johnstown School of Instruction – Masons; and was knighted by the Oriental Commandery, No. 61, Knights Templar.
His father, German-Dunkard Jacob Wertz, was the great grandson of a 1735 Palatine immigrant and rose to community prominence as a farmer, an ardent Republican, and abolitionist.
His daughter Ada Olive Hager (née Wertz) attended Vassar, graduating in 1908. She was one of the original graveyard suffragettes. [3]
References
- ^ Sharon Trostle, ed. (2009). The Pennsylvania Manual (PDF). Vol. 119. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Department of General Services. ISBN 978-0-8182-0334-3.
- ^ "George Munson Wertz".
- ^ "The Suffrage Movement at Vassar - Vassar College Encyclopedia - Vassar College". vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
- United States Congress. "George M. Wertz (id: W000300)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
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