Joseph Fry Jr. (August 4, 1781 – August 15, 1860) was an American politician who served as a Jacksonian member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for

Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district includes all of Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties, and parts of Monroe County. It has been represented by Republican Ryan Mackenzie since 2025. From March 2003 through 2018, the district inc ...

from 1827 to 1831.

Biography

Joseph Fry Jr. was born in present-day

Upper Saucon Township, Pennsylvania Upper Saucon Township is a township (Pennsylvania), township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous Metropolitan statist ...

. He participated in mercantile pursuits in Fryburg, later renamed Coopersburg. He was a member of 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 ...

in 1816 and 1817, and served in the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...

for the 8th district from 1817 to 1821. He served in the State militia and attained the rank of colonel. Fry was elected to the Twentieth Congress and reelected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress. He was not a candidate for renomination in

1830 It is known in European history as a rather tumultuous year with the Revolutions of 1830 in France, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland and Italy. Events January–March * January 11 – LaGrange College (later the University of North Alabama) ...

. He resumed business activities, and was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1837 and 1838. On August 15, 1860 Joseph Fry Jr died at the age of 79 in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...

References

External links

The Political Graveyard
, - , - Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania state senators Politicians from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania 1781 births 1860 deaths Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub