John Test

Who was John Test?

John Test was a U.S. Representative from Indiana.

Born in Salem, New Jersey, Test moved with his parents to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended the common schools. He moved to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and operated Fayette Chance Furnace for several years. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and then to Brookville, Indiana, and operated a grist mill. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar and began practice in Brookville, Indiana. He held several local offices. He served as judge of the third district circuit 1816-1819.

Test was elected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth Congress and reelected as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1826 to the Twentieth Congress.

Test was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress. Presiding judge of the Indiana circuit court. He moved to Mobile, Alabama, and resumed the practice of law. He died near Cambridge City, Indiana, October 9, 1849. He was interred in Cambridge City, Indiana.

Test was the maternal grandfather of author and U.S. Civil War General Lew Wallace, the son of Indiana lawyer and politician David Wallace and Test's daughter Esther.