Henry SOUTHARD, Congress, NJ (1747-1842)

SOUTHARD, Henry, (father of Isaac Southard and Samuel Lewis Southard), a Representative from New Jersey; born in Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y., October 7, 1747; moved with his parents to Basking Ridge, N.J., in 1755; attended the common schools and worked on a farm; served as a private and later as wagon master during the Revolutionary War; engaged in agricultural pursuits; justice of the peace 1787-1792; member of the State general assembly 1797-1799 and in 1811; elected as a Republican to the Seventh and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1801-March 3, 1811); chairman, Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business (Eleventh Congress); elected to the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Congresses (March 4, 1815-March 3, 1821); resumed farming; died in Basking Ridge, Somerset County, N.J., May 22, 1842; interment in Basking Ridge Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present