History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States

by William Horatio Barnes

JOSEPH S. FOWLER was born near Steubenville, Ohio. He was left dependent on his own resources when very young, but by energy and perseverance succeeded in attaining a thorough collegiate education. Having adopted the profession of teaching, he was elected to a college Professorship of Mathematics in Tennessee. He was subsequently for some years at the head of a flourishing seminary of learning near Nashville. He was conspicuous for his staunch loyalty, and when the State Government passed out of the hands of the rebels he was elected to the important office of Comptroller of Tennessee. In 1865 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Tennessee, but with his colleagues was not admitted to a seat until near the close of the first session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress.—478.

FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN was born at Millstone, New Jersey, August 4, 1817. His grandfather, of the same name, was a member of the Continental Congress, and was a United States Senator from 1793 to 1796. Young Frederick having been left an orphan at an early age was adopted and reared by his uncle, Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen. He graduated at Rutgers College, and studied law. He was appointed Attorney General of New Jersey in 1861, and was re-appointed in 1866. On the 24th of January, 1867, he took his seat as a United States Senator from New Jersey having been elected for the unexpired term of William Wright, deceased, which will end March 4, 1869.—492, 497.

JAMES A. GARFIELD was born in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, November 19, 1831. He graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1856, and was for some years principal of a flourishing Seminary of learning at Hiram, Ohio. In 1859 and 1860 he was a member of the Ohio Senate. In 1861 he entered the army as Colonel of the Forty-Second Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, and in the following year was commissioned a Brigadier General. He served as Chief of Staff to General Rosecrans. He fought at the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, and Chicamauga. For gallant service in the last named battle he was promoted to the rank of Major General. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.—144, 438, 450, 524, 540, 538, 553, 557.

ADAM J. GLOSSBRENNER was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, August 31, 1810. He was apprenticed at an early age to the printing-business. When seventeen years of age he journeyed westward, and became foreman in the office of the "Ohio Monitor," and afterwards of the "Western Telegraph." In 1829 he returned to Pennsylvania and settled in York, and there published the "York Gazette." In 1849 he was elected Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives for the Thirty-First Congress, and held the same office through the four following Congressional terms. In 1861 he was private secretary to President Buchanan. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress.

CHARLES GOODYEAR was born in Schoharie County, New York, April 26, 1805. He graduated at Union College in 1824, and entered upon the practice of law in 1827. In 1839 he was elected to the New York Legislature, and in 1841 was appointed First Judge of Schoharie County. In 1845 he was elected a Representative to the Twenty-Ninth Congress, and twenty years after was elected to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. During the interval he devoted his attention to the business of banking. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is John V. L. Pruyn.

HENRY GRIDER was born in Kentucky, July 16, 1796. He was a private in the last war with England. He subsequently divided his attention between agriculture and law. In 1827 and 1831 he was elected to the Legislature of Kentucky, and in 1833 to the State Senate. As early as 1843 he was elected a Representative to Congress from Kentucky and held the position until 1847. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth, and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. He died before the expiration of the last term for which he was elected.—417, 570.

JAMES W. GRIMES was born in Deering, New Hampshire, October 16, 1816. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1836, and soon after removed to Iowa, where he was, in 1838, elected to the first Territorial Legislature. From 1854 to 1858 he was Governor of Iowa. In 1859 he was elected a Senator in Congress, and was in 1865 elected for a second term, which will end in 1871. In 1865 he received the degree of LL.D. from Iowa College. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress of 1861. For a number of years he has been Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs.

JOSIAH B. GRINNELL was born in New Haven, Vermont, December 22, 1821. He received a collegiate and theological education. In 1855, he went to Iowa, where he turned his attention to farming, and became the most extensive wool-grower in the State. He was four years a member of the Iowa Senate, and two years a special agent for the General Post Office. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Iowa to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. He was succeeded by William Loughridge in the Fortieth Congress.—70, 153, 507, 572, 573, 574.

JOHN A. GRISWOLD was born in Rensselaer County, New York, in 1822. He has been engaged in the iron trade and business of banking. He was once Mayor of the City of Troy. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, was re-elected in 1864, and again in 1866.—523.

JAMES GUTHRIE was born near Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1795. Having spent some years in trading with New Orleans as the owner of flatboats, he settled in Louisville as a lawyer, at the age of twenty-five. He was at one time shot by a political opponent, and was in consequence laid up for three years. He served nine years in the State Legislature and six years in the Kentucky Senate. He subsequently took an active part in the banking business, and was President of the Nashville and Louisville Railroad. He was President of the Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1851. In 1853 he became Secretary of the Treasury under President Pierce. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention of 1864. In 1865 he was elected United States Senator from Kentucky for the term ending in 1871.—46, 134, 160, 210, 214.