Honorable John Conrad Bucher ^{1 3 4 5 6 7 8}

  Noted events in his life were:

• Fact: Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA. Researchers of this Bucher should note there is a special file at the Pennsylvania State Archives in Manuscript Group 382 to be explored, described as follows:

Papers of John Conrad Bucher and his descendants and of the related Frederick Hummel family of nearby Hummelstown. A veteran of both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, John Conrad Bucher, 1730-1780, was a minister of the German Reformed Church, Harrisburg. His son, John Jacob Bucher, 1764-1827, was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 1803-1808, 1814-1816, and John Jacob's son, John Conrad Bucher, 1792-1851, was a member of the United States Congress 1831-1833. Frederick Hummel, 1728-1779, was the founder of Hummelstown.

The Papers consist of correspondence, receipts, business and legal documents, engravings, photographs and miscellaneous items pertaining to the careers of The Rev. John Conrad Bucher, John Jacob Bucher and Representative John Conrad Bucher. The Bucher/Hummel Family Papers are divided in to five parts: papers of The Rev. John Conrad Bucher (1730-1780); 2) papers of his son John Jacob Bucher (1764-1827); 3) papers of Jacob's son Representative John C. Bucher (1792-1851); 4) papers of other descendants, which include the records of Eliza Bucher Hummel and related family; and 5) a large collection of genealogical notes spanning two generations.

The papers of Rev. John Conrad Bucher (1730-1780) include French and Indian War muster rolls and returns for Lieutenant Colonel Asher Clayton's 2nd Battalion, Pennsylvania Regiment, 1764 (some signed by Conrad Bucher, Adjutant) and military orders (1759-1771), correspondence (1761-1777) (some in German, at least one with a translation), sermon notes (1734-1755), almanacs (1768 & 1771), and a print of Bucher's sister Mary Elisabeth. There are also a few letters to Mary (Hook/Hoch) Bucher, wife of J. Conrad (1788-1790). The papers of John Jacob Bucher (1764-1827) include business records (1799-1825), correspondence (1784-1827), a diary (1785-1790), a pass to travel to Switzerland 1789 (with seal), trip notes (1789), and a will and an estate inventory (1827-1840). The inventory for Susan (Horter/Hurter) wife of J. Jacob (1839), also will of her father John Horter (1823). There are also miscellaneous documents concerning the children.

The papers of John Conrad Bucher (1792-1851) include letters of appointment and election (1825-1850), correspondence (1813-1848), personal and travel journals (1811, 1818-1827), cash account books (1853-1867), legal documents (1839-1847), a seating diagram of Congress with names (undated), and an invitation from the President (unsigned). Also present are Ellen (Isett) Bucher personal papers (1825-1881), and books of remembrance for her daughters, one with a booklet of hair samples.

Other papers include legal documents, handwritten wills, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia for descendants (1850-1948), focusing on the line of Eliza Bucher Hummel, the daughter of John Conrad Bucher, her daughter Elizabeth Hummel Fendrich, and her granddaughter Eliza (Fendrich) MacDonald and their descendants.

The genealogical information includes letters from various relatives regarding the Bucher and Hummel families, along with Horter, Hook and other families. A Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) form is included that takes the Bucher family back five generations. Several unidentified pictures are included and a more recent negative which appears to have been made for Mrs. Ralph Wilson. Subject files are arranged alphabetically, with individual records in chronological order. See box list for details.

• Photo. See his photo at http://www.searchtrees.com/bucherphotos4.htm

• Fact, 21 Oct 1825, , Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA. ¹⁰ When stock was sold to build a canal and locks on the Susquehanna River, on the list of purchasers were: Jacob Bucher, 5 shares; John C. Bucher, 10 shares; George H. Bucher, 10 shares.

• Book: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1831. ¹¹ BUCHER, John Conrad, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Harrisburg, Pa., December 28, 1792; attended the public schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Harrisburg; clerk of the land department of Pennsylvania in 1813; member of the borough council of Harrisburg; member of the board of school directors; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-second Congress (March 4, 1831-March 3, 1833); trustee of Harrisburg Academy, Franklin College, Lancaster, Pa., and Marshall College, Mercersburg, Pa.; by appointment of Governor Porter was an associate judge of Dauphin County from 1839 until his death in Harrisburg, Pa., October 15, 1851; interment in the City Cemetery.

• Occupation: U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania, 6th District, 1831-33, 1831, Washington City, District of Columbia County, District of Colombia, USA. ¹¹

• Occupation, 1842, Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA. ¹² Listed in the H. Napey's 1842 Directory of Harrisburg, PA:
Bucher, John C, grocery, dry goods & flour store, 1 Market St., SE corner of Market & Front streets. [This could be John C. b.1792 or his son John C. b.1827 as both were merchants.]

• Book: Notes and Queries: Historical and Genealogical Chiefly Relating to Interior Pennsylvania, 1844. ¹³ Labor was in demand and wages good, money being plentiful. The borough [Harrisburg] council at this period issued thousands of dollars in small notes nicely engraved and printed, of the denomination of twenty-five, fifty cent and one dollar notes. These prosperous and speculative times continued until the winter of 1843 and 1844, when a crisis in money affairs took place with a general suspension of specie payments by the banks, and a refusal to discount. Many banks failed, running thousands of men and widows, who were in good circumstances before…. As is the case with all financial crisis, confidence was weakened and general distrust followed. The treasurer of the borough had not the funds to pay debts which were due, nor the interest on the debt, and suits were entered and levies made and executions issued on the property of the corporation, fire engines and even the safe of the treasurer were sold at public sale by creditors. The notes issued depreciated by one-third, and were only received for merchandise in a few stores, as few had the capital to hold them. Among the few storekeepers who received them was Hon. John C. Bucher, a gentleman of wealth, who kept a dry goods store on the south corner of Front and Market streets, who redeemed them at seventy-five centers for one dollar for merchandise, which was a great relief to those who held them. Thousands of dollars were redeemed in that way.

• Occupation, 1845, Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA. ¹⁴ Listed in the 1845 Spofford & Napey's Directory of Harrisburg, PA are:
Bucher, George H., gentleman, 43 Market St.
Bucher, John C., dry goods store, 1 Market St. corner of Front St.

• Census, 1850. ⁸ John C. Bucher, occupation "gentleman", 57, was living with Ellen I., 53; Susan, 20; Ellen, 20; Eliza, 16; Henry Isett, 10; and Elizabeth Seip, 25. Everyone was born in Pennsylvania. John's real estate was valued at $30,000, making him quite wealthy.

• Book: Notes and Queries relating to Pennsylvania, 1895. ¹⁵ Bucher, John Conrad, the son of Jacob Bucher and Susanna Horter, was born at Harrisburg, Penna., December 28, 1792. He bore the ancestral name of his father's family. He received such an education as the schools of the town afforded, and entered practical life in 1813 as a clerk in the old "Land Department" of Pennsylvania, under Gen. Andrew Porter and Richard T. Leech. In 1830 he was elected to the twenty-second Congress from the district comprising Dauphin and Lebanon. In 1839 he was appointed by Gov. Porter an associate judge of the county of Dauphin, which post ion he held for twelve years. He frequently served as a member of the borough council, and was a school director from the adoption of the common school system until the day of his death. Few men have taken a warmer and deeper interest in education matters. He was also a trustee of the Harrisburg Academy, of (then) Franklin College at Lancaster, and of Marshall College at Mercersburg. In the German Reformed Church, among the "fathers" of which his grandfather, the Rev. John Conrad Bucher of Lebanon, was a distinguished minister, he was regarded as a devout and conspicuous man. He was well known in its ecclesiastical councils, having been frequently a member of Classis and Synod, treasurer of the board of domestic missions and of the theological seminary. In private life he was amiable, "given to hospitality," and eminently just. His death was very sudden, having been found dead in bed on the Sabbath morning, October 26th, 1851 -- which occurred in his 59th year, just after returning from a church meeting at Lancaster. Judge Bucher married, January 17, 1820, Eleanor, daughter of Jacob Isett, of Huntingdon county, Penna, who survived her husband thirty years, dying at Harrisburg, March 6, 1881, at the age of 83. They had John C.; Susan, m. Alex. Ray, of Washington City; Eleanor; and Eliza, m. Richard H. Hummel. Mrs. Ray and Mrs. Hummel, both widows, alone survive.

• Book: Pennsylvania Genealogies, Mainly Scotch Irish And German, 1896. ¹⁶ JOHN CONRAD BUCHER, (John-Jacob,8 John-Conrad,7 John-Jacob,6 John-Jacob,5 John,4 John,3 John,2 Glaus,1) b. December 28, 1792 ; d., suddenly, October 26. 1851. In early life was engaged in merchandising; in 1830, elected to represent Dauphin and Lebanon counties in the twenty-second Congress of the United States; appointed by Governor Porter, in 1839, an associate judge of the courts of Dauphin county, which office he held for twelve years. He was a man of enlarged views and of public spirit, unsullied reputation and unimpeachable integrity, engaged in all the public enterprises of his day, and held various positions of honor and responsibility. Many years a school-director and president of the board of education of his native city, Harrisburg. A member and an officer of the German Reformed congregation at home, he was one of the leading laymen in the ecclesiastical councils of the church ; treasurer of one of its boards and of its theological seminary. Judge Bucher m., January 17, 1820, ELLEN ISETT, daughter of Jacob Isett, of Huntingdon county. Pa., b. September 10, 1797 ; d. March 6, 1881 ; both buried in Harrisburg cemetery, of which he was one of the founders. They had issue, all b. in Harrisburg
i.Maria-Elizabeth, b. May 8, 1821 ; d. April 18, 1824.
ii.ii. John-Conrad, b. April 14, 1827; m. Isabella M. Jacoby.
iii.iii. Susan, m., June 4, 1867, Alexander Ray, esquire, of Washington city, who d. July, 1878.
iv.iv. Ellen (twin); d. January 25, 1877, in Harrisburg.
v.v. Eliza-Iselt, m., September 18, 1855, Richard H. Hummel, of Harrisburg.

• Book: Commemorative biographical encyclopedia of Dauphin County; same text in Pennsylvania Genealogies, 1896. ^{1 17} John Conrad BUCHER was born on 28 Dec 1792 in Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, Pa. He died on 26 Oct 1851 in Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, Pa. He was buried in Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, PA cemetery.

In early life, he was engaged in merchandising; in 1830 elected to represent Dauphin and Lebanon counties in the Twenty-second Congress of the United States; appointed by Governor Porter in 1839 as an associated judge of the courts of Dauphin county, which office he held for twelve years.

He was a man of enlarged views and of public spirit, unsullied reputation and unimpeachable integrity, engaged in all the public enterprises of his day, and held various positions of honor and responsibility. Many years a school director and president of the board of education of his native city, Harrisburg. A member and an officer of the German Reformed congregation at home, he was one of the leading laymen in the ecclesiastical councils of the church; treasurer of one of its boards and of its theological seminary.

Judge Bucher married, January 17, 1820, Ellen Isett, daughter of Jacob Isett, of Huntingdon county, Pa.; born September 10, 1791; died March 6, 1881; both buried in Harrisburg cemetery, of which he was one of the founders.

Attended the Harrisburg public schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Harrisburg; clerk of the land department of Pennsylvania in 1813; member of the borough council of Harrisburg; member of the board of school directors; elected to the Twenty-second Congress (March 4, 1831 - March 3, 1833); trustee of Harrisburg Academy, Franklin College, Lancaster, Pa., and Marshall College, Mercersburg, Pa.; by appointment of Governor Porter was an associate judge of Dauphin County from 1839 until his death.

John married Eleanor Isett, daughter of Jacob Isett and Eleanor Stockdale, on 17 Jan 1820.^{1 2} (Eleanor Isett was born on 10 Sep 1797 in , Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, USA,^{1 17} died on 6 Mar 1881 in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA ^{1 2 5 17} and was buried in Harrisburg: Harrisburg Cemetery, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA ^{1 17}.)

  Marriage Notes:

They were married by Rev. John Johnston.