Amos Ellmaker (February 2, 1787 – November 28, 1851) was a U.S. politician, attorney, and judge from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. He served as the

Pennsylvania Attorney General The Pennsylvania Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1980. The current Attorney General is Democrat Josh Shapiro. On August 15, 2016, then-Attorney General Kat ...

and was the Anti-Masonic vice presidential candidate in the 1832 presidential election. Born in

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Lancaster County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Lengeschder Kaundi), sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the south central part of Pennsylvania ...

, he established a legal career in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in ...

after attending

Litchfield Law School The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut, was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietary school was unaffiliated with any college or university. (Wh ...

. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

, he served as an aide to General John Forster. After serving in the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

, Ellmaker accepted appointment as the Pennsylvania Attorney General. He returned to private practice in 1819 and helped found the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

and the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. From 1828 to 1829, Ellmaker served another term as Pennsylvania Attorney General. In 1832, Ellmaker was nominated as the Anti-Masonic vice presidential candidate. The ticket of William Wirt and Ellmaker took 7.8% of the national popular vote and won the state of

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

. Ellmaker sought election to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

in 1834 but was defeated by

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

. After the election, Ellmaker retired from politics and practiced law in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

Education

Amos Ellmaker was born in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the son of Nathaniel Ignatious and Elizabeth (Fellenbaum) Ellmaker. He graduated from Princeton College in 1805, attended the

, and continued his legal studies under James Hopkins, the same Lancaster attorney who trained

. Ellmaker completed his studies in the

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in ...

office of Thomas Elder, whose daughter he later married. In 1808, Ellmaker was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in Harrisburg.

Public service

On Jan. 13, 1809, at age 21, Ellmaker was appointed deputy attorney general for

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat and the largest city is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and ninth ...

. He served in the

in 1813 and 1814, elected from the legislative district composed of Dauphin and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

Counties. He volunteered for the militia during the

and served in 1814 as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General John Forster during the Chesapeake Campaign. While in this position, he was elected to the

Fourteenth Congress The 14th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in the Old Brick Capitol in Washin ...

from the congressional district consisting of Lancaster, Dauphin, and Lebanon Counties, but never filled that office. On July 3, 1815 Ellmaker was appointed Judge of the Twelfth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, composed of Dauphin, Lebanon, and Schuylkill Counties. Ellmaker resigned from the bench in December 1816 to accept Governor

Simon Snyder Simon Snyder (November 5, 1759November 9, 1819) was the third Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, serving three terms from 1808 to 1817. He led the state through the War of 1812. Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Snyder established ...

's appointment as

. Governor William Findlay re-appointed him in 1818, and Ellmaker served until December 1819. In 1817 Ellmaker declined an offer from

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...

to serve as

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

. During his career, he also twice turned down offers of appointment as Secretary of the Commonwealth, and twice as justice of the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...

. In 1821 Ellmaker moved from Harrisburg to Lancaster, where he continued to practice law.

Pennsylvania Railroad Company

In 1823 Ellmaker was an original incorporator of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In 1826 he was an original incorporator of the Columbia, Lancaster and Philadelphia Railroad, as was

. In May 1828 Ellmaker returned to the office of state Attorney General, and served until August 1829.

1832 Presidential Campaign

1832 Events January–March * January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. * January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white plant ...

, Ellmaker was the candidate for Vice President on the Anti-Masonic ticket, with William Wirt as the candidate for president. Wirt and Ellmaker won in

, and received seven electoral votes. In 1834 Ellmaker ran for the

, losing to

. After this election, Ellmaker retired from politics and continued the practice of law. In 1838, the Lancaster Female Seminary was incorporated, with Ellmaker as one of the original 10 trustees.

Family life

In 1816 Ellmaker married Mary Rachael Elder (born 31 December 1799 at Harrisburg, PA; died 15 March 1866), the daughter of Thomas Elder. They had two sons,

Nathaniel , nickname = {{Plainlist, * Nat * Nate , footnotes = Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Greek name Nathanael. People with the name Nathaniel * Nathaniel Archibald (1952–2018), American basketball player * Nate ...

(born 28 April 1817 at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) and

Levi Levi (; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Moses and ...

(born 1828, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania).

Death and burial

Ellmaker died in Lancaster on November 28, 1851. He was buried in the churchyard of St. James' Episcopal Church in Lancaster.

References

*Egle, William Henry ''Pennsylvania Genealogies: Chiefly Scots-Irish and German'' (1896). *Ellis, Franklin ''History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men'' (1883) *''Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans'' (1904).

External links

Amos Ellmaker
at ''The Political Graveyard'' * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellmaker, Amos 1787 births 1851 deaths Anti-Masonic Party politicians from Pennsylvania Litchfield Law School alumni Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania state court judges People from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Politicians from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Politicians from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Princeton University alumni Pennsylvania lawyers 1832 United States vice-presidential candidates 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American Episcopalians