US Congressman, Journalist. A Democrat, he was elected to represent Pennsylvania's 1st District in the Thirty-second and four succeeding Congresses, serving from 1851 to 1861. Florence was trained as a hatmaker and opened a Philadelphia shop at age 21, but his involvement in the temperance and early trade union movements steered him towards a career in journalism. He was defeated twice for election to the US House (1846, 1848) before winning the first of five consecutive terms in 1850. After leaving Congress he remained in Washington DC as founding editor of the Constitutional Union newspaper, and in 1868 he became owner of the Washington Sunday Gazette. Two more Congressional bids, in 1868 and 1874, were unsuccessful. Florence lost the latter election by so narrow a margin he planned to contest it, but died from complications of injuries he suffered in an accident during the campaign. Originally buried at the now-defunct Monument Cemetery in Philadelphia, he was reinterred at Lawnview Cemetery in 1956.
US Congressman, Journalist. A Democrat, he was elected to represent Pennsylvania's 1st District in the Thirty-second and four succeeding Congresses, serving from 1851 to 1861. Florence was trained as a hatmaker and opened a Philadelphia shop at age 21, but his involvement in the temperance and early trade union movements steered him towards a career in journalism. He was defeated twice for election to the US House (1846, 1848) before winning the first of five consecutive terms in 1850. After leaving Congress he remained in Washington DC as founding editor of the Constitutional Union newspaper, and in 1868 he became owner of the Washington Sunday Gazette. Two more Congressional bids, in 1868 and 1874, were unsuccessful. Florence lost the latter election by so narrow a margin he planned to contest it, but died from complications of injuries he suffered in an accident during the campaign. Originally buried at the now-defunct Monument Cemetery in Philadelphia, he was reinterred at Lawnview Cemetery in 1956.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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