History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States

by William Horatio Barnes

SYDENHAM E. ANCONA was born in Warwick, Pennsylvania, November 20, 1824. Removing to Berks County, he was, for a number of years, connected with the Reading Railroad Company. In 1860 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Seventh Congress from Pennsylvania, and was subsequently returned to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by J. Lawrence Getz.

GEORGE W. ANDERSON was born in Tennessee, May 22, 1832. Having received a liberal education, he adopted the profession of law. In 1853 he settled in Missouri, where he soon after became editor of the "North-East Missourian." In 1858 he was elected to the State Legislature. In 1862 he was chosen a State Senator, and served as such until he was elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.

HENRY B. ANTHONY was born of Quaker ancestry, at Coventry, Rhode Island, April 1, 1815. He graduated at Brown University in 1833. He became editor of the "Providence Journal" in 1838. He was chosen Governor of Rhode Island in 1849, and served two terms. In 1859 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, and was subsequently re-elected for a second term, which ends in 1871.—36, 37, 487, 488, 497.

SAMUEL M. ARNELL was born in Maury County, Tennessee, May 3, 1834. He studied at Amherst College, Massachusetts, and adopted the profession of law, which he practiced in Columbia, Tennessee. In April, 1865, he was elected a member of the Legislature of Tennessee, and in the following August was elected a Representative in Congress. The Tennessee delegation not being admitted at the opening of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, he continued to hold his seat in the Legislature. He was the author of the Franchise Law, which became a part of the Constitution of Tennessee, and of the Civil Rights Bill of Tennessee. He took his seat as a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress at the opening of its second session, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.

DELOS R. ASHLEY studied and practiced the profession of law in Monroe, Michigan. In 1849 he removed to California, where he was elected District Attorney in 1851. He was elected to the Assembly in 1854, and to the State Senate in 1856. He subsequently held the office of Treasurer of State. Having removed to Nevada in 1864, he was elected the Representative from that State to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.

JAMES M. ASHLEY was born in Pennsylvania, November 14, 1824. He spent several years of his early life in a printing-office, and was some time a clerk on Ohio and Mississippi steamboats. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1849, but immediately engaged in the business of boat-building. He subsequently went into the wholesale drug business in Toledo. In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Sixth Congress, and has been a member of every succeeding Congress, including the Fortieth.—306, 503, 513, 515, 525, 566.

JEHU BAKER was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, November 4, 1822. He received a good education, and entered the profession of law. Having settled in Illinois, he was, in 1864, elected a Representative from that State to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.—340,560.

JOHN D. BALDWIN was born in North Stonington, Connecticut, September 28, 1810. He graduated at Yale College. Having studied law, and gone through a course of theological studies, he published a volume of poems, and became connected with the press, first in Hartford, and then in Boston, where he was editor of the "Daily Commonwealth." He subsequently became proprietor of the "Worcester Spy." In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago Convention. In 1862 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Massachusetts, and was re-elected in 1864 and 1866.

NATHANIEL P. BANKS was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, January 30, 1816. His parents, being poor, could afford him no advantages of education save those of the common school. He was editor of a newspaper first in Waltham and then in Lowell. He studied law, but did not practice. In 1848 he was elected to the Legislature. He served in both Houses, and officiated part of the time as Speaker. He was President of the Convention, held in 1853, for revising the Constitution of Massachusetts. From 1853 to 1857 he was a Representative in Congress. During his second term in Congress he held the office of Speaker of the House, with unsurpassed acceptability and success. In 1857 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and held the office for three successive terms. During the late rebellion he served as a Major-General of Volunteers. In 1865 he was elected a member of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.—25, 31, 445, 524, 525, 539, 553.

ABRAHAM A. BARKER was born in Lovell, Maine, March 30, 1816. He received a common-school education, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was an early and earnest advocate of temperance and anti-slavery. In 1854 he removed to Pennsylvania, and entered upon the lumber business and mercantile pursuits. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago Convention. In 1864 he was elected to represent the Seventeenth District of Pennsylvania in the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Daniel J. Morrell.