Getz, J. Lawrence. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1821; his father was an officer in the navy, and fought under Captain Lawrence in 1812; he received an academical education in Reading and in Nottingham, Maryland; read law, and came to the bar in 1846; and, having turned his attention to the newspaper business, he was for Twenty years the editor of the Reading Gazette and Democrat; in 1856 he was elected to the State Legislature; re-elected in 1857 and made Speaker of the House; and in 1860 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Fortieth Congress, serving on the Committees on Mileage, Soldiers' and Sailors' Bounties, and Public Expenditures. Re-elected to the two subsequent Congresses, serving on important Committees.
Lanman, Charles. Biographical Annals of the Civil Government of the United States During Its First Century: From Original and Official Sources. Washington: James Anglim, Publisher, 1876, p. 163.
Contributed by: Nancy.