Isaac S. Pennybacker

Isaac Samuels Pennybacker (* September 3, 1805 in New Market, Shenandoah County, Virginia; † January 12, 1847 in Washington DC) was an American lawyer and politician (Democratic Party), who represented the state of Virginia in both houses of Congress. He was also a federal judge.

After school he studied law at the Law School in Winchester and then practiced as a lawyer in Harrisonburg. Fairly quickly began his political career with election to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he remained on 4 March 1837 to 3 March 1839.

As a result, he suggested several options for his political future. He renounced the office of the U.S. Attorney, that he U.S. President Martin Van Buren had offered, as well as to a post as a judge of the Supreme Court of Virginia and his party's nomination for election to the governor of the state. Ultimately, he accepted the pronounced by President Van Buren nomination for Judge of the United States District Court for the Western Judicial District of Virginia. He took there to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 17, 1840 the place of the deceased Alexander Caldwell a.

In 1845 he resigned his judgeship, after he was elected to the U.S. Senate. The state Legislature of Virginia had been unable to agree on a candidate in the first ballot, so Pennybacker took the vacant seat until 3 December 1845. During his time in the Senate, U.S. President James K. Polk appointed him also in the first governing body ( Board of Regents ) of the Smithsonian Institution, which includes among others George Mifflin Dallas, Robert Dale Owen, Richard Rush, Benjamin Rush and Alexander Dallas Bache belonged.

At the age of 41 years, Isaac Pennybacker died only 13 months after he took office in Washington. His Senate seat took a James Murray Mason.