James Wolfenden

James Paine Wolfenden (July 25, 1889 – April 8, 1949) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

James Wolfenden was born in Cardington, Pennsylvania. He attended Friends' Central School and Penn Charter Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was engaged in the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods in Cardington, Pennsylvania.

He was elected to the 70th United States Congress as a Republican to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas S. Butler. He was reelected to the 71st United States Congress in 1928 and the eight succeeding Congresses. He did not run in 1946. He died in Philadelphia.

On May 26, 1928, Congressman Thomas S. Butler of West Chester, Pennsylvania died at age seventy-three, after having represented the Delaware/Chester County 8th congressional district for an unprecedented thirty-one years. He was eulogized by various Delaware County leaders, who referred to him kindly as "Uncle Tom" and with whom he had developed a good rapport. Now, however, it was the more populous Delaware County's turn for the two-county congressional seat. By the 1920 census, Delaware County had led Chester County in population by about 173,000 to 115,000, but a gentlemen's agreement between the Republican leaders of each county had allowed the popular Butler to continue his service.

At a meeting on July 31, attended by forty-two Republican conferees from Delaware County and twenty-two from Chester County, thirty-nine-year-old James Wolfenden of Upper Darby was nominated to fill the unexpired term without opposition. Born on July 25, 1889 in Cardington, Delaware County, Wolfenden was an Upper Darby Township Commissioner for nine years and had run his father's cotton and woolen goods manufacturing firm, Wolfenden-Shore, for seven years. He also was a vice president of the Citizen's Bank of Lansdowne and vice president of the Delaware County Hospital, besides being the Republican leader of Upper Darby and later would be named by John McClure to the then-young Delaware County Board of Republican Supervisors (War Board). McClure, himself a candidate for the state senate district, which encompassed all of Delaware County, offered a resolution recognizing Butler's passing as the "loss of a great statesman and national leader." The Chester Times heavily praised the choice of Wolfenden, stating that he "will make a good representative" with his "business training" and that he was "progressive", a "leader" and a "booster".

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