John Test

John Test (1781 – October 9, 1849) was a U.S. Representative from Indiana and a prominent early jurist and public official in the state. He was born and raised near Salem, New Jersey, in 1781, during the closing years of the American Revolutionary era. Little is recorded about his parents or early childhood, but his formative years in New Jersey preceded a series of moves that would take him westward into the developing frontier regions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.

As a young man, Test moved from New Jersey to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where he entered into industrial enterprise by operating the Fayette Chance Furnace for several years. This work placed him in the midst of the early iron industry that was emerging in western Pennsylvania in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Seeking further opportunity, he later relocated to Cincinnati, then a growing river town in the Northwest Territory and an important commercial hub on the Ohio River. From Cincinnati he moved again to Brookville, in what would become the state of Indiana, where he operated a grist mill, participating in the agricultural and commercial development of the frontier community.

While residing in Brookville, Test pursued legal studies and prepared for a professional career in the law. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Brookville, Indiana. His legal training and growing reputation led to his selection for various local offices, reflecting the trust placed in him by the emerging community. As Indiana transitioned from territory to statehood, Test became increasingly involved in public affairs and the administration of justice.

Test’s legal and civic standing culminated in his appointment as judge of the third district circuit, a position he held from 1816 to 1819. In this role, he presided over a wide range of civil and criminal matters during the formative years of Indiana’s judicial system. He later served as presiding judge of the Indiana circuit court, further solidifying his influence in shaping the state’s early legal framework. His judicial service coincided with a period of rapid settlement and institutional development, and he played a significant part in establishing the rule of law in the new state.

Building on his judicial and local service, Test entered national politics as Indiana’s representation in Congress expanded. He was elected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth Congress and reelected as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth Congress, serving from March 4, 1823, to March 3, 1827. His shifting partisan designation reflected the fluid political alignments of the era, as the old Democratic-Republican Party fractured into competing factions around figures such as Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. In 1826 he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Twentieth Congress, marking a temporary interruption in his congressional career.

Test returned to the national legislature two years later. He was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress and served from March 4, 1829, to March 3, 1831. As an Anti-Jacksonian, he aligned with those opposed to President Andrew Jackson’s policies, a coalition that would help give rise to the National Republican and later Whig parties. Across his terms in the House of Representatives, Test represented Indiana during a period of national debate over internal improvements, federal authority, and the direction of the young republic, though the specific details of his committee assignments and legislative initiatives are not extensively documented.

After concluding his service in Congress, Test continued his legal career. He moved to Mobile, Alabama, where he resumed the practice of law, extending his professional activities into the Gulf South at a time when Mobile was an important port city in the expanding cotton economy. Despite this southern sojourn, he ultimately returned to Indiana later in life. He died near Cambridge City, Indiana, on October 9, 1849. He was interred in Cambridge City, Indiana, where his burial marked the close of a life spent largely in service to the law and public office on the American frontier.

John Test’s family connections extended his influence into later generations of Indiana and national history. He was the maternal grandfather of Lew Wallace, the noted author and Union Army major general during the American Civil War, best known for writing the novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.” Wallace was the son of Indiana lawyer and politician David Wallace and Test’s daughter Esther. Another daughter, Mary, married James Rariden, who, like her father, served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana. Through these familial ties, Test’s legacy reached into both the political and literary history of the United States.