Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker | |
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Samuel W. Pennypacker circa 1905
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23rd Governor of Pennsylvania | |
In office January 20, 1903 – January 15, 1907 |
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Lieutenant | William M. Brown |
Preceded by | William A. Stone |
Succeeded by | Edwin Sydney Stuart |
Personal details | |
Born |
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania |
April 9, 1843
Died | September 2, 1916 Schwenksville, Pennsylvania |
(aged 73)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Virginia Earl Broomall (1870–1916; his death) |
Religion | Lutheran |
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Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker (April 9, 1843 – September 2, 1916) was the 23rd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1907. He also served Pennsylvania as a judge and wrote on aspects of Pennsylvania history.
Gov. Pennypacker was born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, April 9, 1843; he was the son of Dr. Isaac A. Pennypacker and Anna Maria Whitaker, and the grandson of Matthias and Sarah Anderson (daughter of Isaac Anderson), and of Joseph and Grace Whitaker. He was a cousin of Galusha Pennypacker. He and his grandfather Whitaker witnessed Abraham Lincoln's speech outside Independence Hall in February 1861, standing 20 feet (6.1 m) away. He received his education at the Grovemont Seminary at Phoenixville and at the West Philadelphia Institute. He was the fourth great-grandson of Abraham op den Graeff. His ancestor Heinrich Pannebäcker emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1702.
Pennypacker's early education was interrupted several times. In 1863 he answered a call to arms by Governor Andrew Curtin during the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War. He enlisted as a private in Company F of the 26th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia and trained at Camp Curtin. He fought in the skirmish at Witmer Farm, north of Gettysburg on June 26, 1863, an action that saw his newly recruited regiment retreat to Harrisburg when confronted by veteran Virginia cavalry. He left the emergency militia in late July 1863 and resumed his education.
Pennypacker studied law at the University of Pennsylvania and opened his own law practice in 1866. In 1868, he was elected president of the Law Academy of Philadelphia.