Representative Lemuel Amerman

Lemuel Amerman (October 29, 1846 – October 7, 1897) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served one term as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from 1891 to 1893. His congressional service occurred during a significant period in American history, and as a member of the House of Representatives he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his constituents in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Amerman was born on October 29, 1846, near Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania. He attended local schools and pursued further study at the Danville Academy. He then enrolled at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1869. Following his graduation, he remained in the field of education for several years, teaching school for three years before turning to the study of law.

After deciding on a legal career, Amerman read law and was admitted to the bar in 1873. He commenced the practice of law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he began to establish himself professionally. In 1876 he moved to Scranton, in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, which would remain his principal home and the center of his professional and political life. In Scranton he continued the practice of law and also became engaged in banking, reflecting his growing involvement in the economic affairs of the region.

Amerman’s public career began at the local and county levels. He served as solicitor for Lackawanna County in 1879 and 1880, providing legal counsel to the county government. Building on this experience, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving as a member of the state legislature from 1881 to 1884. During his tenure in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, he fathered and championed an important bill providing for free public instruction in Pennsylvania, a measure that advanced the cause of public education in the Commonwealth. He later held municipal office as city comptroller of Scranton in 1885 and 1886, overseeing aspects of the city’s financial administration. In addition, he served as reporter of the decisions of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1886 and 1887, a position that involved the preparation and publication of the court’s opinions and reflected his standing within the state’s legal community.

Alongside his legal and political work, Amerman was active in religious and civic affairs. For seven years he served as superintendent of the Penn Avenue Baptist Church in Scranton, a dynamic and socially concerned congregation that was later known as Immanuel Baptist Church. In this role he contributed to the church’s educational and social outreach efforts, reinforcing his broader interest in public instruction and community improvement.

Amerman was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1893. His single term in Congress placed him in the midst of national debates over economic policy, industrial regulation, and social reform during the early 1890s. As a Democratic representative, he participated in the democratic process at the federal level and contributed to the legislative work of the House, representing the concerns of his Scranton-area constituents during a period of rapid industrial growth and labor unrest. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1892 and thus concluded his congressional service after one term in office.

After leaving Congress, Amerman returned to Scranton and resumed the practice of law. He continued his professional activities there until his health declined. He died in Blossburg, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, on October 7, 1897, at the age of 50. He was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery in Scranton, reflecting his long association with that city.

In his personal life, Amerman was married twice. After the death of his first wife, he married Mary Caroline Van Nort (born September 2, 1859), a member of the first graduating class of Scranton High School who later became a public school teacher in Scranton. Lemuel and Mary Amerman had two children: a son, Ralph, born in 1884, and a daughter, Mary Caroline, born on February 14, 1886. Mary Caroline Van Nort Amerman died in childbirth on the day of her daughter’s birth. Their daughter, Mary Caroline Amerman, later married Frederick Lewis of Norfolk, Virginia, in 1910. Lewis eventually became vice president of the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch Corporation and of Norfolk Newspapers, Inc. In 1940, their daughter, Mary Caroline Lewis, married Eleuthere Paul du Pont Jr., son of the founder of DuPont Motors, extending the Amerman family’s connections into prominent business circles in the twentieth century.