US Congressman. Elected as a Democrat to represent Pennsylvania's 13th District in the US House of Representatives, he served from 1839 until his death. Ramsey was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and studied the classics at Dickinson College there. He continued his education in England while employed as an attache with the American Legation in London, and sought no public office before his successful run for the Twenty-Sixth Congress in 1838. During his last months on Capitol Hill he suffered from a liver ailment that may have resulted from alcoholism. On October 18, 1840, a few days after he was reelected to the US House, the 30 year-old Ramsey shot himself at Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the first US Congressman to commit suicide while in office. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Washington, DC's Congressional Cemetery.
US Congressman. Elected as a Democrat to represent Pennsylvania's 13th District in the US House of Representatives, he served from 1839 until his death. Ramsey was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and studied the classics at Dickinson College there. He continued his education in England while employed as an attache with the American Legation in London, and sought no public office before his successful run for the Twenty-Sixth Congress in 1838. During his last months on Capitol Hill he suffered from a liver ailment that may have resulted from alcoholism. On October 18, 1840, a few days after he was reelected to the US House, the 30 year-old Ramsey shot himself at Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the first US Congressman to commit suicide while in office. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Washington, DC's Congressional Cemetery.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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