William Maclay (March 22, 1765 – January 4, 1825) was an early-American lawyer who served two terms as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, 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 Artic ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

from 1815 to 1819.

Biography

Maclay was born in

Lurgan Township, Pennsylvania Lurgan Township is a township in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,207 at the 2020 census. It was named after the town of Lurgan in Northern Ireland. History The McClay's Twin Bridge (East) and McClay's Twin B ...

. He attended the country schools, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1800 and commenced the practice of his profession at

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Franklin County, in the South Central Pennsylvania, South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Gre ...

. He was county commissioner of

Franklin County, Pennsylvania Franklin County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 155,932. Its county seat is Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Cha ...

, in 1805 and 1806.

Political career

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 1807 and 1808, and served as associate judge for the Cumberland district in 1809. Maclay was elected as a Republican to the Fourteenth and

Fifteenth In music, a fifteenth or double octave, abbreviated ''15ma'', is the interval between one musical note and another with one-quarter the wavelength or quadruple the frequency. It has also been referred to as the bisdiapason. The fourth harmonic, ...

Congresses, serving from 1815 to 1819.

Death and burial

He died in Lurgan in 1825 and was interred in Middle Springs Cemetery.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclay, William Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives People from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 1765 births 1825 deaths Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives