John PETTIT, Congress, IN (1807-1877)

PETTIT, John, a Representative and a Senator from Indiana; born in Sackets Harbor, N.Y., June 24, 1807; completed preparatory studies; admitted to the bar in 1831; moved to LaFayette, Tippecanoe County, Ind., where he commenced practice in 1838; member, State house of representatives 1838-1839; United States district attorney 1839-1843; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1849); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1848; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1850; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1852; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Whitcomb and served from January 18, 1853, to March 3, 1855; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854; chairman, Committee on Private Land Claims (Thirty-third Congress); chief justice of the United States courts in the Territory of Kansas 1859-1861; judge of the supreme court of Indiana 1870-1877; died in LaFayette, Ind., January 17, 1877; interment in Greenbush Cemetery.

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