Harmar Denny

Who was Harmar Denny?

Harmar Denny was an American businessman and Anti-Masonic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Harmar Denny was born in Pittsburgh the son of Ebenezer Denny and Nancy Wilkins.His father had served as adjutant to General Harmar during wars on the western frontier. Graduating from Dickinson College in Carlisle in 1813, Harmar Denny was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania in 1816 and became a law partner with Henry Baldwin and practiced law in Pittsburgh . He married Elizabeth F. O'Hara on November 25, 1817 and they had 11 children. Elizabeth was the daughter of General James O'Hara and Mary Carson O'Hara. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1824 to 1829. In 1829 he became a ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh.

Denny was elected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Wilkins. He was reelected to the Twenty-second through Twenty-fourth Congresses and served from December 15, 1829, to March 3, 1837.