Joshua Seney was an American farmer and lawyer from Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Queen Anne's County is a county located on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland.As of 2010, the population was 47,798. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville is the county's most populous place...

. He represented the state of Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 in the Continental Congress

Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....

, and the second district of Maryland in the House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

.

Early life

Joshua was born to John (1730–1795) and Ruth Benton Seney in 1756 on the family farm near Church Hill, Maryland

Church Hill, Maryland

Church Hill is a town in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 530 at the 2000 census. Joshua Seney was born near Church Hill, and is buried on his property near the town.-Geography:...

. His grandfather, Solomon, was a French Huguenot

Huguenot

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 refugee who arrived in Maryland around 1727. By the time Joshua was born the family were prosperous farmers and planters. He was educated in local schools and then attended the College of Philadelphia

The Academy and College of Philadelphia

The Academy and College of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, is considered by many to have been the first American academy. It was founded in 1749 by Benjamin Franklin....

 (now the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

), graduating in 1773. He read law and was admitted to the bar, but confined himself to a private practice.

Continental Congress

During the early days of the Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 Seney busied himself with the care of the family's farms since his father was active as a Lt. Colonel in the militia. He was appointed the sheriff of Queen Anne's County in 1779. He was elected to the Maryland state House of Delegates, and served there from 1785 to 1787. In 1788, Seney was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress.

United States Congress

After returning to his farm, Seney was again called to political service when he was elected to the First United States Congress in 1789. He was re-elected for the 1791–1793 term but resigned from Congress on December 6, 1792 to take up his new duties as a judge of the state court for the district of Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

. He served as a justice until 1796.

In 1798 Seney ran for Congress again as a Republican

Democratic-Republican Party (United States)

The Democratic-Republican Party or Republican Party was an American political party founded in the early 1790s by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Political scientists use the former name, while historians prefer the latter one; contemporaries generally called the party the "Republicans", along...

. He defeated the incumbent Federalist

Federalist Party (United States)

The Federalist Party was the first American political party, from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801...

, William Hindman

William Hindman

William Hindman was an American lawyer and statesman from Talbot County, Maryland. He represented Maryland in the Continental Congress, and in the federal Congress as both a Representative from the second and seventh districts, and as a U.S...

 but died before taking office. Seney died at home in 1798 and was buried in a family plot on his farm near Church Hill in Queen Anne's County.

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