History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States

by William Horatio Barnes

SCHUYLER COLFAX was born in New York City, March 23, 1823. He became a printer, and settled in Indiana, 1836. He was for many years editor and publisher of the "South Bend Register." In 1850 he was a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention. He was a delegate and secretary of the Whig National Conventions of 1848 and 1852. He was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Fourth Congress, and has been a member by re-election of each succeeding Congress. He was elected Speaker of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the same office in the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.—12, 20, 289, 306, 363, 501, 574, 576.

ROSCOE CONKLING, son of Alfred Conkling, a member of the Seventeenth Congress, was born at Albany, in 1828. Having entered the profession of law, he successively held the offices of District Attorney for Oneida County and Mayor of Utica. In 1859 he took his seat as a member of the Thirty-Sixth Congress from New York, and remained a Representative in Congress by successive re-elections until the 4th of March, 1867, when he entered the United States Senate as the successor of Ira Harris.—328, 330, 348, 363, 481, 513, 514.

JOHN CONNESS was born in Ireland in 1822, and came to America when thirteen years of age. He was an early emigrant to California, where he engaged in mercantile and mining pursuits. In 1852 he was elected to the State Legislature, and served in that capacity for a series of years. In 1863 he was elected United States Senator from California for the term ending in 1869.—540.

BURTON C. COOK was born in Monroe County, New York, May 11, 1819. He received a collegiate education, and entered upon the profession of law in Illinois. After serving as State Attorney for six years, he was elected to the State Senate in 1852, and was a member of that body until 1860. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.—223, 350, 351.

EDMUND COOPER was born in Maury County, Tennessee. He graduated at the Harvard Law School, and entered upon the practice of law at Columbia, and afterwards at Shelbyville, Tennessee. He has served in the Tennessee Legislature, and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1865. In August, 1865, he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but was not admitted until near the close of the first session. While waiting at Washington to be admitted to Congress, he acted as Private Secretary to President Johnson. In November, 1867, he was appointed by the President to act as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

EDGAR COWAN was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1815. He graduated at Franklin College, Ohio, in 1839. Having been at different times clerk, boat-builder, schoolmaster, and student of medicine, he studied law and practiced the profession until 1861, when he was elected United States Senator from Pennsylvania for the term ending 1867. He was succeeded by Simon Cameron.—96, 100, 133, 135, 195, 216, 273, 429, 460, 487, 489, 496, 535, 564.

AARON H. CRAGIN was born in Weston, Vermont, February 3, 1821. He studied law in Albany, New York, and in 1847 removed to Lebanon, New Hampshire, where he practiced his profession. From 1852 to 1855 he was a member of the New Hampshire Legislature. He was a Representative from New Hampshire in the Thirty-Fifth and Thirty-Sixth Congresses. In 1865 he entered the Senate of the United States for the term ending in 1871.

JOHN A. J. CRESWELL was born in Port Deposit, Maryland, November 18, 1828. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1848, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He was successively a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Assistant Adjutant-General for the State and a Representative in the Thirty-Eighth Congress. In 1865 he was chosen a United States Senator for the unexpired term of T. H. Hicks, deceased.—134, 136.

SHELBY M. CULLOM was born in Wayne County, Kentucky, November 27, 1829, and was removed to Illinois, when scarcely a year old, by his parents, who settled in Tazewell County. He spent two years as a student at the Mount Morris Seminary. Having studied law, he entered upon the practice of his profession in Springfield, and was immediately elected City Attorney. In 1856 he was elected to the State Legislature, and was re-elected in 1860, and chosen Speaker of the House. In 1856 was a Fillmore Elector for the State at large. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. In 1866 he was re-elected by more than double his former majority.—516.

CHARLES V. CULVER was born in Logan, Ohio, September 6, 1830. Having settled in Western Pennsylvania, he engaged in business pursuits, and especially in banking. He was largely concerned in railroads and other public enterprises. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from the Twentieth District of Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Darwin A. Finney.—575.