James Lawrence Getz
{{short description|American politician (1821–1891)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = James L. Getz
| image name = File:JamesLawrenceGetz.jpg
| caption =
| state1 = Pennsylvania
| district1 = 8th
| term_start1 = March 4, 1867
| term_end1 = March 3, 1873
| preceded1 = Sydenham Elnathan Ancona
| succeeded1 = Hiester Clymer
| office2 = Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
| term2 = 1856–1857
| birth_date = {{birth date|1821|09|14}}
| birth_place = Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1891|12|25|1821|09|14}}
| death_place = Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| resting_place = Charles Evans Cemetery
| party = Democratic
}}
James Lawrence Getz (September 14, 1821 – December 25, 1891) was an American newspaperman and politician who served three terms as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from 1867 to 1873.
Biography
James L. Getz was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He pursued an academic course, and was one of the founders of the Reading Gazette in 1840.
He purchased the Jeffersonian Democrat and merged the two papers under the name of the Reading Gazette and Democrat, disposing of his interests in 1868. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1846 but never practiced.
=Political career=
He was a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1856 and 1857 and served as Speaker of the House during the latter year.
Getz was elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth, Forty-first, and Forty-second Congresses. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1872.
=Later career and death=
After leaving Congress, he again engaged in the newspaper business. He served as city comptroller of Reading from 1888 until his death there in 1891.
He is interred in Reading's Charles Evans Cemetery.
Sources
{{CongBio|G000145}}
- [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/gersch-gibbon.html The Political Graveyard]
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{{US House succession box
| state=Pennsylvania
| district=8
| before=Sydenham E. Ancona
| after=Hiester Clymer
| years=1867–1873
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania}}
{{PASpeakers}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Getz, James L.}}
Category:19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
Category:Burials at Charles Evans Cemetery
Category:Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Category:Speakers of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Category:American newspaper founders
Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
Category:19th-century American journalists
Category:Politicians from Reading, Pennsylvania
Category:American male journalists
Category:19th-century American male writers
Category:Journalists from Pennsylvania
Category:19th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly
Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives