Joshua Seney

Joshua was born to John Seney (1730–1795) and Ruth (née Benton) Seney in 1756 on the family farm near Church Hill in the Province of Maryland. His grandfather, Solomon, was a French Huguenot refugee who arrived in Maryland around 1727. By the time Joshua was born the family were prosperous farmers and planters. He was educated in local schools and then attended the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania), graduating in 1773.{{cite web |title=Representative Joshua Seney |url=https://www2.gwu.edu/~ffcp/exhibit/p1/members/reps/seney.html |website=www2.gwu.edu |publisher=First Federal Congress Project |accessdate=April 1, 2019}}

After Seney was admitted to the bar, he confined himself to a private practice. In 1779, he served as the High Sheriff of Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

During the early days of the Revolutionary War Seney busied himself with the care of the family's farms since his father was active as a Lt. Colonel in the militia. He was appointed the sheriff of Queen Anne's County in 1779. He was elected to the Maryland state House of Delegates, and served there from 1785 to 1787. In 1788, Seney was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress.

After returning to his farm, Seney was again called to political service when he was elected to the First United States Congress in 1789.{{cite book |last1=Society |first1=United States Capitol Historical |title=Neither Separate Nor Equal: Congress in the 1790s |date=2000 |publisher=Ohio University Press |isbn=9780821413272 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzjaxV8oDpMC&pg=PA11 |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}} He was re-elected for the 1791–1793 term as an Anti-Administration candidate but resigned from Congress on December 6, 1792, to take up his new duties as a judge of the state court for the district of Baltimore. He served as Chief Justice of the Third Judicial District of Maryland from 1792 to 1796.

In 1798, Seney ran for Congress again as a Republican. He defeated the incumbent Federalist, William Hindman but died before taking office.

Seney was married to Frances "Fanny" Nicholson (1771–1851) of the prominent Nicholson family of Maryland.{{cite book |last1=Revolution |first1=Daughters of the American |title=Lineage Book |date=1921 |publisher=The Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2isUu9_1KuUC&pg=PA73 |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}} Fanny was the daughter of Commodore James Nicholson and was the sister of Catherine "Kitty" Nicholson (wife of William Few),{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Dale T. |title=American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection |date=1990 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=9780870995972 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=od6eLeOkdkcC&pg=PA183 |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}} Hannah Nicholson (wife of Albert Gallatin),{{cite book |last1=Dungan |first1=Nicholas |title=Gallatin: America's Swiss Founding Father |date=2010 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9780814721117 |pages=51–52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ZyTbDynRp8C&pg=PA51 |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}} James Witter Nicholson (husband of Ann Griffin, daughter of Isaac Griffin),{{cite web |title=James Witter Nicholson letters, 1792-1834 |url=https://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4079165/ |website=www.columbia.edu |publisher=Columbia University |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |archive-date=June 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626130233/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4079165/ |url-status=dead }} Maria Nicholson (wife of John Montgomery),{{cite book |last1=McKenney |first1=Janice E. |title=Women of the Constitution: Wives of the Signers |date=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810884991 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenofconstitut0000mcke/page/59 59]-60 |url=https://archive.org/details/womenofconstitut0000mcke |url-access=registration |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Charles Brockden |title=Collected Writings of Charles Brockden Brown: Letters and early epistolary writings |date=2013 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781611484441 |page=598 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RodUL-6B7IC&pg=PA598 |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}} and Jehoiadden Nicholson (wife of James Chrystie).{{cite book |last1=Roosevelt |first1=Hall |last2=McCoy |first2=Samuel Duff |title=Odyssey of an American family: an account of the Roosevelt and their kin as travelers, from 1613 to 1938 |date=1939 |publisher=Harper & brothers |page=216 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15xYAAAAMAAJ |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Library |first1=Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript |title=A guide to the manuscript collections in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University |date=1992 |publisher=G.K. Hall |isbn=9780816105168 |pages=180, 309 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MYYAQAAIAAJ |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}} Together, Joshua and Fanny were the parents of:{{cite book |last1=Scribner |first1=Harvey |title=Memoirs of Lucas County and the City of Toledo: From the Earliest Historical Times Down to the Present, Including a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families |date=1910 |publisher=Western Historical Association |page=[https://archive.org/details/memoirsoflucasco02scri/page/246 246] |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsoflucasco02scri |accessdate=April 1, 2019 |language=en}}

• Joshua Seney Jr. (1793–1854), who married Ann Ebert (1803–1879), the parents of Judge Henry William Seney.

Seney died at home on October 20, 1798, and was buried in a family plot on his farm near Church Hill in Queen Anne's County. His grave can now be found in the churchyard of St. Luke's Church.{{cite web |title=SENEY, Joshua - Biographical Information |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000242 |website=bioguide.congress.gov |publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |accessdate=April 1, 2019}}

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• {{CongBio|S000242}}
• {{find a Grave|19443538}}

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{{s-par|us-hs}}

{{s-new|constituency}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 2nd congressional district|years=1789—1792}}

{{s-aft|after=William Hindman}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=William Hindman}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 7th congressional district|years=1798}}

{{s-aft|after=Joseph Hopper Nicholson}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Seney, Joshua}}

Category:1756 births

Category:1798 deaths

Category:American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law

Category:Continental Congressmen from Maryland

Category:Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland

Category:Elected officials who died without taking their seats

Category:Farmers from Maryland

Category:Maryland sheriffs

Category:Members of the Maryland House of Delegates

Category:People from Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni

Category:18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives