Biography

Excerpt from U.S. House of Representatives Biography: "CHANDLER, Joseph Ripley, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Kingston, Mass., August 22, 1792; attended the common schools; engaged in commercial work in Boston; moved to Philadelphia, Pa., in 1815; founded a young ladies' seminary; editor of the United States Gazette 1822-1847; member of the Philadelphia city council 1832-1848; member of the State constitutional convention in 1837; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first, Thirty-second, and Thirty-third Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1855); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress; appointed by President Buchanan as Minister to the Two Sicilies and served from June 15, 1858, to November 15, 1860; president of the board of directors of Girard College; interested in prison reform and was a delegate to the International Prison Congress held at London in 1872; died in Philadelphia, Pa., July 10, 1880; interment in New Cathedral Cemetery."