Jacob Kerlin McKenty was a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

.

Jacob K. McKenty was born in Douglassville, Pennsylvania

Douglassville, Pennsylvania

Douglassville is a community in Amity, Union Townships, and Douglass Townships Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. Douglassville is situated along U.S. Route 422. Developments include the Amity Gardens subdivision, the West Ridge subdivision, the Briarwood subdivision, and the subdivision...

. He graduated from Yale College

Yale College

Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...

 in 1848 and from the law department of that college in 1851. He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and commenced practice in Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...

. He served as prosecuting attorney of Berks County, Pennsylvania

Berks County, Pennsylvania

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 373,638 people, 141,570 households, and 98,532 families residing in the county. The population density was 435 people per square mile . There were 150,222 housing units at an average density of 175 per square mile...

, from 1856 to 1858.

McKenty was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-sixth

36th United States Congress

The Thirty-sixth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1859 to March 4, 1861, during the third and fourth...

 Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Schwartz

John Schwartz

John Schwartz was an Anti-Lecompton Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania....

 and served from December 3, 1860, to March 3, 1861. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1860

United States House election, 1860

Elections among the 33 states to the 37th United States Congress of the House of Representatives were held August 1860 through September 1861. Following the presidential election of 1860, Electoral College vote and Inauguration swearing-in, their term would coincide with the first two years of...

. He was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination in 1862

United States House election, 1862

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1862, mostly in November, in the middle of President Abraham Lincoln's first term...

 and 1864

United States House election, 1864

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1864 to elect Representatives to the 39th United States Congress. The election coincided with the presidential election of 1864, in which President Abraham Lincoln was re-elected....

. He resumed the practice of his profession in Reading and died in Douglassville in 1866. Interment in St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church Cemetery.

Sources

• The Political Graveyard