Thomas Burnside

Who was Thomas Burnside?

Thomas Burnside was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Thomas Burnside was born near Newtownstewart, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He immigrated to the United States with his father’s family, who settled in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1793. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1804 and commenced practice in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. He was appointed deputy attorney general on January 12, 1809, and served in the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1811 and 1812.

Burnside was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fourteenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of David Bard and served unil his resignation in April 1816. He was appointed president judge of the Luzerne district courts in 1815, and resigned in 1819. He was again a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate and its presiding officer in 1823. He was president judge of the fourth judicial district from 1826 to 1841 and later presided in the same capacity over the seventh judicial district.