History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States

by William Horatio Barnes

ROBERT S. HALE was born, in Chelsea, Vermont, September 24, 1822, and graduated at the University of Vermont in 1842. He settled for the practice of law at Elizabethtown, New York. He subsequently held the position of Judge of Essex County, Regent of the University of New York, and Presidential Elector. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Orange Ferris.—82, 372.

AARON HARDING was born in Greene County, Kentucky. He was admitted to the bar in 1833. He was elected to the Kentucky Legislature in 1840. In 1861 he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to the Thirty-Seventh Congress and was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is J. Proctor Knott.—361, 462.

ABNER C. HARDING was born in East Hampton, Connecticut, February 10, 1807. He practiced law in the State of New York, and subsequently in Illinois. He was for many years engaged extensively in farming and railroad management. In 1848 he was a member of the Illinois Constitutional Convention, and subsequently of the Legislature. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the Eighty-Third Illinois Infantry, and became its Colonel. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.—522.

BENJAMIN G. HARRIS was born in Maryland, December 13, 1806. He was for a time a student of Yale College, and afterwards studied at the Cambridge Law School. He returned to his native State and engaged in the practice of law and agriculture. He served for several years in the Maryland House of Delegates. In 1863, and again in 1865, he was elected a Representative to Congress from Maryland. In May, 1865, he was arrested and tried by court-martial for violating the Fifty-Sixth Article of War, and was declared guilty; but the President ordered the sentence of the court to be remitted in full. He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Frederick Stone.

IRA HARRIS was born in Charleston, New York, May 31, 1802. He graduated at Union College in 1824, and soon after entered upon the practice of law in Albany, and for many years devoted attention exclusively to his profession. In 1844 he was elected to the New York Legislature, and served two terms. In 1846 he was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention, and was the same year elected to the State Senate. In 1847 he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, and held the office twelve years. In 1861 he was elected a Senator in Congress from New York for the term ending in 1867, when he was succeeded by Roscoe Conkling.

ROSWELL HART was born in Rochester, New York, in 1821. He graduated at Yale College in 1843, and was admitted to the bar in 1847, but entered immediately upon mercantile pursuits. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Lewis Selye.

ISAAC R. HAWKINS was born in Maury County, Tennessee, May 16, 1818. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits until twenty-two years of age, when he commenced the study of law. In 1843 he settled, for the practice of law, in Huntington, Tennessee, where he now resides. He served as a Lieutenant in the Mexican War. In 1860 he was elected to the Legislature of Tennessee. He was a delegate to the Peace Congress of 1861, and in the spring and summer of that year was actively engaged in making speeches throughout his State against secession. In September, 1862, he entered the army as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh Tennessee Cavalry. In 1864 he was captured by the enemy at Union City, Tennessee, and was imprisoned at Mobile and Macon. He was one of the fifty officers placed by the rebels under fire of the Federal force off Charleston. Having been exchanged, he commanded the cavalry force in Western Kentucky until the close of the war. In August, 1865, he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES was born in Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822. He graduated at Kenyon College, and subsequently at the Cambridge Law School. He was City Solicitor for Cincinnati from 1858 to 1861. He went into the army at the opening of the war as Major of the Twenty-Third Ohio Volunteers, and reached the rank of Brigadier General. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was, in 1866, re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, but having been elected Governor of Ohio in 1867, he resigned his seat in Congress, and was succeeded by Samuel F. Carey.

JAMES H. D. HENDERSON was born in Livingston County, Kentucky, July 23, 1810. In 1817 he removed with his parents to Missouri, and learned the printing business in Jefferson City. He subsequently published a weekly newspaper at Bowling Green, Missouri. At the age of twenty-five he entered the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and after preaching for a time in Missouri, he accepted the pastoral charge of a congregation in Pennsylvania. Having held this position eight years, he resigned in 1851, and soon after emigrated to Oregon. There he engaged in agricultural pursuits, but was active in preaching and lecturing against slavery, intemperance, gambling, and other popular vices. He was elected to the office of Superintendent of Common Schools for Oregon. In 1864 he was elected the Representative from Oregon to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was succeeded by Rufus Mallory.

JOHN B. HENDERSON was born in Virginia, November 16, 1826, and at ten years of age removed with his parents to Missouri. He taught school as a means of support while attaining an academical education. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He was subsequently twice elected to the Missouri Legislature. In 1856 he was a Democratic Presidential Elector, and was a delegate to the Charleston Convention of 1860. On the expulsion of Trusten Polk from the United States Senate, he was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1863 he was elected for the full term, ending in 1869.—161, 377, 382, 386, 388, 461, 530, 531, 533, 534, 559.