Joseph Benton Donley

Joseph Benton Donley (October 10, 1838 – January 23, 1917) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Biography Joseph Benton Donley was born in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. He completed preparatory studies, and graduated from Waynesburg College (now Waynesburg University) in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania in 1859. He was a member of the faculty of Abingdon College in Abingdon, Illinois, from 1860 to 1862.

He entered the Union Army as a captain in the 83rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, in 1862 and served throughout the war.

He graduated from the Albany Law School in Albany, New York, in 1866. He was admitted to the bar in 1867 and commenced practice in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. He served as a referee in bankruptcy in 1867 and 1868.

Donley was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870. He resumed the practice of his profession in Waynesburg and died there in 1917 at the age of 78. Interment in Green Mount Cemetery.