Breck, Samuel, 1771-1862

Pennsylvania State Senator; U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania.

Samuel Breck was a Philadelphia merchant and was a member of the American Philosophical Society (elected 1838).

Samuel Breck was born on July 17, 1771, in Boston. Of English descent, he was the son of the wealthy and prominent Samuel Breck (1747-1809) and Hannah Andrews (1747-1830), and husband to Jean (Ross) Breck (b. 1773), the daughter of one of Philadelphia's most important merchants. Samuel and Jean had one daughter, Lucy (1807-1828). For thirty-eight years, he and his wife lived at the Sweetbriar Estate just outside of Philadelphia. A merchant by trade, Breck was also elected to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, State Senate, and U.S. Congress, and was a dedicated observer of politics during his lifetime. He died in 1862 at the age of ninety-one.

Samuel Breck was born on July 17, 1771 in Boston. In 1792, after attending school in France, Breck moved to Pennsylvania and settled in Philadelphia, where he engaged in business as a merchant. In 1795 he married Jean Ross; they had one daughter, Lucy, who died in 1828 at the age of 21. Breck served as corporal during the Whisky Rebellion and was a member of the State house of representatives from 1817 to 1820. He served in the State senate from 1832 to 1834. He was elected an Adams-Clay Federalist to the Eighteenth Congress in 1823 and served for two years. Breck was also involved with several organizations such as the Schuylkill Bank, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, the Philadelphia Athenaeum, and the Pennsylvania Institute for the Instruction of the Blind. He withdrew from active business pursuits and lived in retirement until his death in 1862 in Philadelphia.

Samuel Breck was a Philadelphia merchant and member of the American Philosophical Society.

Born into wealthy family in Boston on the eve of the American Revolution and educated there and at the Royal Military School of Loreze, France, Samuel Breck (1771-1862) made his career as a merchant and politician. Unhappy with the high taxes in post-war Massachusetts, Breck's father relocated his family to Philadelphia in 1792, and Samuel soon planted roots there. On Christmas eve, 1795, he married Jean Ross, daughter of one of Philadelphia's most important merchants.

After serving as a corporal during the Whisky Rebellion in 1794, Breck took an increasingly active role in the civic and cultural life of the city. A major benefactor of the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Athenaeum and a founder of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind, he took a particular interest in historical matters, becoming an officer of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania., and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1838. He was also a prominent politician, serving in the State house of representatives in 1817-1820, the State senate in 1832-1834, and as Federalist in the U.S. Congress in 1823-1825. His brother Daniel, a jurist and banker, also served as a congressman.

Breck died in Philadelphia on August 31, 1862, and was interred in St. Peter's Churchyard.