John J. Casey
| John Joseph Casey | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 12th district |
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In office March 4, 1927 – May 5, 1929 |
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| Preceded by | Edmund Nelson Carpenter |
| Succeeded by | Charles Murray Turpin |
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In office March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1925 |
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| Preceded by | John Reber |
| Succeeded by | Edmund Nelson Carpenter |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 11th district |
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In office March 4, 1919 – March 3, 1921 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas W. Templeton |
| Succeeded by | Clarence Dennis Coughlin |
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In office March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1917 |
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| Preceded by | Charles Calvin Bowman |
| Succeeded by | Thomas W. Templeton |
| Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives | |
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In office 1907–1909 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 26, 1875 Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania |
| Died | May 5, 1929 (aged 53) |
| Political party | Democratic |
John Joseph Casey (May 26, 1875 – May 5, 1929) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
John J. Casey was born in Wilkes-Barre Township, Pennsylvania. He was an early union organizer and a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives from 1907 to 1909.
Casey was born in the Georgetown section of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1875 - the oldest son of an Irish immigrant family. At the age of seven, his father, Andrew Casey, died in a mining accident in the Wilkes-Barre Coal Mines. In accordance with company policy, the oldest son of a miner was required to take his father's place in the mine if his family was to retain their home and company credit. The mining companies owned the miners' homes and paid the miners with company credit rather than money.
In 1883 at the age of eight, Casey was a breaker boy in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, responsible for breaking the slag off of coal fragments as they were excavated from the mine. By the age of 12 he was a 'mule skinner', charged with dragging the mules in and out of the mines. According to his grandson, Terry W. Casey: "he used to speak about his excitement towards days with the occasional noontime break, which could last almost an hour in length. That was until he realized why they had the breaks - which were used as time to remove bodies of dead miners from the work zone, as had been done to his father." His harrowing experience in the coal mines of the 1880s and 90s would have a profound impact on his career both as a union organizer and a Congressman.
In 1900 the United Mine Workers President John Mitchell visited the Pennsylvania anthracite region and Casey quickly made a name for himself as a union organizer. His work with big labor allowed him to enter into the political arena. Running on the Labor Party ticket, in 1906 Casey was elected to the Pennsylvania State Legislature. In the 1912 general election, Casey scored the first of what would be six congressional victories over the next twenty years.
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