Representative Christian Tarr

Christian Tarr (May 25, 1765 – February 24, 1833) was a United States Representative from Pennsylvania during the early national period and later a state legislator and federal transportation official. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, where he spent his early years before relocating to the western frontier of Pennsylvania as that region was being settled and developed in the late eighteenth century.

In 1794 Tarr moved to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, a time when western Pennsylvania was still largely rural and agricultural. There he engaged in farming and related agricultural pursuits, establishing himself as part of the agrarian economy that characterized the area. As settlement expanded and local industry began to grow, he also became involved in the manufacture of pottery in neighboring Fayette County, Pennsylvania, reflecting the emergence of small-scale manufacturing enterprises that supported local communities in the region.

Tarr’s involvement in agriculture and manufacturing provided the foundation for his entry into public life. Identified with the Republican Party of the era—commonly known as the Democratic-Republican Party—he was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from Pennsylvania. He served in the Fifteenth Congress, which met from March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1819, and was reelected to the Sixteenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1819, to March 3, 1821. His service in Congress coincided with the presidency of James Monroe and the period often referred to as the “Era of Good Feelings,” when issues of internal improvements, westward expansion, and economic policy were prominent in national debate.

After leaving the U.S. House of Representatives, Tarr continued his public service at the state level. He was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving in 1821 and 1822. In the state legislature he participated in the governance of a rapidly growing commonwealth, as Pennsylvania addressed matters of infrastructure, commerce, and the political integration of its expanding western counties.

Tarr’s legislative experience and familiarity with western Pennsylvania positioned him for a role in the development and oversight of early national transportation projects. On October 31, 1827, he was appointed superintendent of the road built by the United States Government from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), a key segment of what became known as the National Road or Cumberland Road. In this capacity he was responsible for the supervision and maintenance of one of the young nation’s most important overland routes, facilitating travel and commerce between the eastern states and the interior. He served in this post until March 20, 1829.

In his later years, Tarr remained in southwestern Pennsylvania, where he had spent most of his adult life. He died on February 24, 1833, in Washington Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He was interred in the Methodist Graveyard in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, a river town that served as an important point along the National Road and a center of regional trade. His career reflected the intertwined development of agriculture, early industry, representative government, and internal improvements in the early decades of the United States.