WHITEHILL, Robert, congressman, born in Pequea, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 29 July, 1738; died in Lauther Manor, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 8 April, 1813. He received a common-school education, and in 1770 purchased from the proprietaries of Pennsylvania two tracts of land in Lauther Manor, where in 1771 he erected the first stone house. He was a member of the Philadelphia convention of July, 1776, which approved the Declaration of Independence and adopted a state constitution and bill of rights, and also of the convention that ratified the United States constitution, and the one that adopted the state constitution of 1790. He served often in either branch of the legislature, holding a seat in the lower house during the stormy sessions of 1798-1800, and subsequently being speaker of the senate during the impeachment trial of the judges of the state supreme court of Pennsylvania. He was a member of four successive congresses, serving from 2 December, 1805, till 3 March, 1813.