Charles Bingham Penrose (1798 - 1857)

Born 6 Oct 1798 in Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 6 Apr 1857 at age 58 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

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Biography

10/06/1798 - 04/06/1857

Charles Bingham Penrose (DR) Cumberland and Perry Counties, 1833-1936, elected, (DR), Adams, Cumberland and Franklin Counties, 1837-1839 Whig, 1839-1841, (R) Philadelphia County 1857

Early Life:

Charles Bingham Penrose, born October 6, 1798, Frankford Creek, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; son of Clement Biddle Penrose and Anna Howard Bingham; family moved, St Louis, 1805; St. Louis militia, War of 1812; Washington College, 1819; read law, admitted, several county bars, several law practices, 1821-1857; married Valeria Fullerton Biddle, two sons, Doctor Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose and Judge Clement Biddle Penrose; investor, Cumberland Valley Railroad, Pine Grove Furnace, 1838; elected, Democratic-Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate 1833-1841; Speaker of the Senate 1838, 1841 ^[1]; senatorial delegate, Democratic State Convention, 1836; chaired two Coalition state nominating caucuses, Chambersburg, July and Harrisburg, November 1839; become Whig, National Whig Nominating Convention, Harrisburg, December, 1839; appointee, Presidential, Solicitor, Treasury, 1841-1845; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1857; died, pneumonia, April 6, 1857 (aged 58) in office; Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania; interment Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. (^[2])

Early Career:

Attorney, Carlisle, 1821-1841, Lancaster, 1845-1847, Philadelphia, 1847-1857.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Senatorial delegate, Democratic State Convention, 1836; chaired two Coalition state nominating caucuses, Chambersburg, July and Harrisburg, November 1839; become Whig, National Whig Nominating Convention, Harrisburg, December 1839.

Elected, Democratic-Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, Cumberland and Perry Counties, 1833-1936, elected, Democratic-Republican, Adams Cumberland and Franklin Counties, 1837-1839, Whig 1839-1841; chaired, Estates and Escheats Committee, 1835-1836, Judiciary Committee 1836-1837; Speaker of the Senate, 1838, 1841, resigned, March 13, 1841; elected, Republican, Philadelphia County, 1857.

Continued Government Service/National Politics:

Appointee, President William Henry Harrison, Solicitor, Treasury, 1841; reappointed President John Tyler, 1841-1845.

Legacy

Invested, Cumberland Valley Railroad and obtaining the Pine Grove Furnace, 1838 with partner William Watt. As a legislator, Penrose engineered the completion of the Cumberland Valley line, connecting rail between Chambersburg and Harrisburg.

His grandfather, Charles Bingham of Castlebar, Ireland, was a captain in the Volunteers of Ireland, a British Provincial military unit raised for Loyalist service during the American Revolutionary War. He was divorced from Penrose's grandmother, Loyalist New Yorker Anna Howard, later Lady Hay through her second marriage to Sir Thomas Hay, 5th Baronet of Alderston. Penrose's mother was the half-sister of Sir James Douglas Hamilton Hay, the 6th baronet. His paternal grandmother, Sarah Biddle, was a member of the prominent Biddle family who, after the death of her first two husbands, went on to marry Bernese patrician Rudolph Tillier [de]. His great-uncles included Clement Biddle, Owen Biddle Sr., and General James Wilkinson

Wife, Valeria, grand-niece of 7th Vice-President of Pennsylvania Charles Biddle and his brothers Edward (Founding Father; delegate, Continental Congress, 1774-1775; signatory, Continental Association) and Nicholas (one of the first five captains, Continental Navy).

Notable grandsons, his namesake Charles Bingham Penrose, Philadelphia gynecologist who became widely known for his surgical skill. Pennsylvania State Senator Boies Penrose who was President pro tempore, Pennsylvania State Senate, then became a United States Senator. R.A.F. Penrose, known for his geologic surveys and entrepreneurial activity in Texas, Arkansas and Colorado as well as founding of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia now known as CHOP. Spencer Penrose for founding many mining and financial companies in Colorado as well as the Pike's Peak Chapter of the American Red Cross. The naturalist Spencer Fullerton Baird, first named curator and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was his nephew. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Smull's legislative hand book and manual of the state of Pennsylvania, Meyers, E.K., 1888, page 263
2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134196391/charles-bingham-penrose
3. ↑ History of the Penrose family of Philadelphia, by Josiah Granville Leach and George Hoffman Penrose, 1903, pages 83-86

• https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/BiosHistory/MemBio.cfm?ID=5143&body=S
• Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, by John W. Jordan, Page 661
• Wikipedia:Charles_B._Penrose
• The University Magazine (1892) Vol. 7, Page 84