Representative Elijah Babbitt

Elijah Babbitt (July 29, 1795 – January 9, 1887) was a Republican United States Representative from Pennsylvania whose long career in law and state and national politics spanned much of the nineteenth century. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on July 29, 1795. In 1805 he moved with his parents to New York State, where he received an academic education. Seeking professional opportunities on the expanding American frontier, he relocated to Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in 1816.

In Milton, Babbitt read law in the traditional manner of the period and prepared for admission to the bar. He was admitted to the bar in March 1824 and commenced the practice of law in Milton. His early legal work established his reputation as a capable attorney and positioned him for a broader role in public affairs as Pennsylvania’s interior communities grew in population and economic importance.

Babbitt moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1826 and continued the practice of law in what was then a developing port city on Lake Erie. He served as attorney for the borough of Erie and, after its incorporation, for the city of Erie, providing legal counsel on municipal matters during a period of civic and commercial expansion. In 1833 he was appointed prosecuting attorney for Erie County, Pennsylvania, and in 1834 and 1835 he served as deputy attorney general for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, roles in which he handled criminal prosecutions and represented the state’s legal interests in the region.

Building on his legal and civic standing, Babbitt entered elective office in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1836 and 1837, participating in state legislative deliberations during a time of internal improvements and party realignments. He later served in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1843 to 1846, where he continued to represent the interests of his northwestern Pennsylvania constituency and to engage in the legislative issues of the antebellum period.

With the rise of the Republican Party in the 1850s, Babbitt aligned himself with the new political organization and was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1863. His tenure in Congress coincided with the secession crisis and the opening years of the Civil War, when questions of Union preservation, military mobilization, and wartime finance dominated the national agenda. Representing Pennsylvania, he participated in these critical debates as part of the Republican majority that supported the Lincoln administration. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1862.

After leaving Congress, Babbitt returned to Erie and resumed the practice of law, remaining a respected figure in the local bar and community. He continued to live in Erie for the remainder of his life, witnessing the postwar transformation of the nation he had served in both state and federal office. Elijah Babbitt died in Erie, Pennsylvania, on January 9, 1887, and was interred in Erie Cemetery.