George F. Huff

Summary

George Franklin Huff (July 16, 1842 – April 18, 1912) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

George F. Huff
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania
In office
March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1911
Preceded byJohn Dalzell
Succeeded byCurtis H. Gregg
Constituency22nd district
In office
March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1897
Preceded bySee below
Succeeded bySee below
Constituencyat-large
In office
March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1893
Preceded bySamuel Alfred Craig
Succeeded byDaniel B. Heiner
Constituency21st district
Member of the Pennsylvania State Senate
In office
1884–1888
Personal details
Born(1842-07-16)July 16, 1842
Norristown, Pennsylvania
DiedApril 18, 1912(1912-04-18) (aged 69)
Washington, D.C.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseHenrietta Burrell (m. 1871)

Biography edit

George F. Huff was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools in Middletown, Pennsylvania,[1] and later in Altoona, Pennsylvania. At the age of eighteen he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad car shops in Altoona.

He moved to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1867 and engaged in banking in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He later became largely identified with the industrial and mining interests of western Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1884 to 1888.

Huff was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-second Congress. He was again elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1896.

Huff was again elected to the Fifty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses. He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Mines and Mining during the Sixtieth and Sixty-first Congresses. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1910.

Personal life edit

 
Huff's mansion, built in 1906, today serves as the Argentine Embassy

On March 16, 1871, Huff married the former Henrietta Burrell, a daughter of Jeremiah M. Burrell, President Judge of the Tenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. They were the parents of eight children.

Along with sixty-odd wealthy Western Pennsylvanians including Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon and Henry Clay Frick, Huff was a member of the elite South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club whose earthen dam at Lake Conemaugh failed on May 31, 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood.

He died in Washington, D.C., in 1912, aged 69. He was interred in St. Clair Cemetery in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Huff's Dupont Circle mansion, designed by Horace Trumbauer and Julian Abele and built in 1906, was sold by his widow in 1913 to the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Relations, and has since housed the Embassy of Argentina.[2]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Hon. George Franklin Huff". Westmoreland County Genealogy Project. April 12, 1999. Retrieved January 26, 2014. moved to Norristown, and from there to Middletown, in Dauphin County, and five years later removed to Altoona, Pennsylvania. ... When four years of age he accompanied his parents to Middletown, where he attended the public schools until 1851, when his parents moved to Altoona.
  2. ^ "Building". Embassy of Argentina.

Sources edit

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 21st congressional district

1891–1893
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's at-large congressional district

1895–1897 alongside:
Galusha A. Grow
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 22nd congressional district

1903–1911
Succeeded by