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BUFFINGTON, Joseph, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in West Chester, Pa., November 27, 1803; attended the common schools and Western University, Pittsburgh, Pa.; moved to Butler County, Pa., and edited a weekly newspaper; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1826 and commenced practice in Butler; moved to Kittanning, Pa., in 1827 and continued the practice of law; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1847); was not a candidate for renomination in 1846; appointed president judge of the eighteenth district in 1849 and served until 1851; declined the appointment as chief justice of the Territory of Utah tendered by President Fillmore in 1852; judge of the tenth district of Pennsylvania from 1855 until his retirement in 1871; died in Kittanning, Pa., February 3, 1872; interment in Kittanning Cemetery.