William Fisher Packer, a native of Howard Township, served as governor of Pennsylvania during the turbulent years before the Civil War.
Packer was born on April 2, 1807, to a family of English and Quaker ancestry. His father died when he was seven years old. With his family’s limited means, as a young teenager Packer became a printer’s apprentice, starting with the Sunbury Public Inquirer and then the Bellefonte Patriot. He later owned and edited the Lycoming Gazette.
Packer studied law in Williamsport, but he never practiced. In 1829, he married the former Mary Wycoff Vanderbelt. The couple had ten children.
From 1832-1835, Packer was superintendent of the West Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal. In 1836, he co-founded the Democratic Party newspaper in Harrisburg, the Keystone Gazette. The Gazette supported the successful campaign of Governor David R. Porter in 1838.
As part of the political spoils system of the era, Packer was appointed Pennsylvania Canal commissioner and served from 1839-1842. Following that, he was appointed state auditor general from 1842-1845.
Packer ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1848, losing by twelve votes to William F. Pauling. Two years later, he ran for the General Assembly again, winning this time.
Packer was named speaker of the House during the 1848 and 1849 sessions. While speaker, he presided over the first significant women’s rights legislation as part of an omnibus 1848 bill which ensured that all property owned by a single woman would remain hers after marriage, that women could acquire additional property in her own name while married, and that property could not be sold without a woman’s consent to pay a spouse’s debts.
Packer won a seat in the Pennsylvania Senate in 1850, serving Centre, Clinton, Lycoming, and Sullivan counties for one term He ran for governor in 1857 facing the Republican Party’s candidate David Wilmot, and the Know-Nothings Party candidate, Isaac Hazlehurst. Wilmot was known nationally for his attacks on slavery, but Packer easily defeated his two opponents. He took office in January 1858.
As governor, Packer supported banking reforms, requiring state banks to limit note issues to amounts covered by real security deposited with the state. Packer sold the state-owned canal system to pay off some of the commonwealth’s debts. He also supported the new public school department set up by his predecessor.
Packer was friend of President James Buchanan, a fellow Pennsylvanian who had supported his candidacy. However, during Buchanan’s term he split with the president over the spread of slavery into Kansas and the new territories. Packer believed the issue would divide the Democratic Party in the North and South.
Packer endorsed Democrat Stephen Douglas in the 1860 presidential election. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president, Packer supported the call for a national constitutional convention to find a compromise to avoid the dissolution of the Union and a civil war.
Packer declined to run for re-election, citing poor health. He left office in January 1861, soon after South Carolina seceded from the Union. He retired to Williamsport and died on September 27, 1870.
James Nowicki
Sources:
“Governor William Fisher Packer,” Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/governors/1790-1876/william-packer.html (Accessed July 14, 2025).
Smith, David G. On the Edge of Freedom: The Fugitive Slave Issue in South Central Pennsylvania, 1820-1870. New York: Fordham University Press, 2014.
“William F. Packer,” Pennsylvania House of Representatives, https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/SpeakerBios/SpeakerBio.cfm?id=59 (Accessed July 14, 2005).
First Published: July 21, 2025
Last Modified: December 2, 2025