Hon. J. Laurence Getz, Journalist, and ex-Congressman, was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, September 14th, 1821. His father was an officer in the navy, and fought under Captain Laurence in the War of 1812. His grandfather, on the maternal side, was a soldier of the Revolution. After receiving a thorough academic education, he pursued a course of law studies in the office of the Hon. William Strong, of the Supreme Bench, and, in 1846, was admitted to practice. Subsequently he became connected with the press, and, from 1846 until December 5th, 1868, edited the Reading Gazette and Democrat, the English organ of the Democracy of Berks county. During 1856-'57, he was a member of the State Legislature of Pennsylvania. In the first year, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Education, and Secretary to the Committee of Ways and Means; in the last he was made Speaker of the House, and as such was noted for his strict impartiality, his quickness of perception, and his readiness in rendering decisions. From March 4th, 1867, until March 4th, 1873, he served in Congress, and during that period was a member of the Committees on Soldiers' and Sailors' Bounties, Public Expenditures, Public Buildings and Grounds, and the Mississippi Levees. Upon being reelected to the Forty-second Congress as a Democrat, he received 10,411 votes against 5045 votes for N. Hunter, Republican. While acting as a Congressman, he delivered few speeches, but these stamped him beyond question or doubt as a fluent and able orator; one was in opposition to the impeachment of Andrew Johnson; another in favor of the Repeal of the Income Tax and a general reduction of Internal Taxation; another was a Eulogy upon the late Hon. John Covode, which was commended for the rare merit, in funeral oratory, of truth. Since his retirement from public life, he has contributed many articles of a political and literary nature to various newspapers and magazines; while at present he is meditating an early resumption of his former profession as a legal practitioner. As an upholder and defender of the sentiments of his constituents, and the brave and faithful chief of an influential party organ, he has merited and won high encomiums in every quarter; exhibiting under all circumstances energy, loyalty, learning and perseverance. As a lawyer, he is highly esteemed by those sufficiently familiar with him to discern his merits, for his powers of analysis and judgment, his thorough course of reading, and his quick appreciation of the flaws, points and difficulties of an involved and vexatious case. He was married, in October, 1847, to Anna, eldest daughter of Rev. R.U. Morgan, D.D., a presbyter of the Protestant Episcopal Church. She died in March, 1873, leaving two children, a son and a daughter.
Source: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the Nineteenth Century. Philadelphia: Galaxy Publishing Co., 1874, pp. 483.
Contributed by: Nancy.