Background
John W. Rife was born in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
John W. Rife was born in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
He attended the common schools, and learned the trade of tanner.
Rife enlisted July 15, 1864, as a private in Company Doctorate, One Hundred and Ninety-fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served until honorably discharged on November 6, 1864. He served as president of the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad Company
Rife was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses. He was not a candidate for renomination.
He died in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
Interment in Middletown Cemetery.
He served as a member of the city council of Middletown in 1871, and as burgess of Middletown in 1877 and 1878. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1885 and 1886.