History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States

by William Horatio Barnes

JOHN R. KELSO was born in Franklin County, Ohio, March 23, 1831. At the age of nine years he removed with his parents to North-western Missouri, then a wilderness. After surmounting great obstacles he succeeded in obtaining an education, and graduated at Pleasant Ridge College in 1858. He soon after became principal of an academy at Buffalo, Missouri. On the breaking out of the rebellion he was the first in his county to volunteer in defense of the Union, and immediately took the field as captain of a company of daring and enterprising men. With his company he was detailed to hunt the bushwhackers, who, from their hiding-places, were committing the most atrocious outrages upon the loyal people. His name became a terror to the rebels and guerrillas of the Southwest. He took part in over sixty fierce conflicts, and in personal encounter killed twenty-six armed rebels with his own hand. At the close of his service in the war he was elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He declined renomination, and resumed his profession of teaching in Springfield, Missouri. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Joseph J. Gravelly.

MICHAEL C. KERR was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1827. He was left an orphan at the age of twelve years, and through his own exertions obtained an academical education. He taught school for a time, and, in 1851, graduated in the Law Department of the University of Louisville, and soon after located in New Albany, Indiana. In 1856 he was elected to the Legislature of Indiana, and served two terms. In 1862 he was elected reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court, and held the office two years, publishing five volumes of reports. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.—147, 236, 362, 510.

JOHN H. KETCHAM was born in Dover, New York, December 21, 1831. Having received an academical education, he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits. In 1856 and 1857 he was a member of the New York House of Representatives, and of the State Senate in 1860 and 1861. He entered the military service in 1862 as Colonel of the One Hundred and Fiftieth New York Regiment, and became a Brigadier General by brevet. He resigned his position in the army in March, 1865, having been elected a Representative from New York to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.—31.

SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD was born in Hartford County, Maryland, December 20, 1813, and received an academical education in Washington. Having removed to Ohio he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He was four years Prosecuting Attorney for Richland County, and was a member of the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1850. Having removed to Iowa, he was elected to the State Senate in 1856. He was Governor of Iowa from 1860 to 1864, and, in January, 1866, he was elected a United States Senator from Iowa for the unexpired term of James Harlan, ending in 1867, at which date he was succeeded by his predecessor, who was re-elected.—487.

WILLIAM H. KOONTZ, a lawyer by profession, was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Ninth Congress. He successfully contested the seat taken by Alexander H. Coffroth, and was admitted near the close of the first session. He was, in 1866, re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.—508.

ANDREW J. KUYKENDALL was born in Gallatin County, Illinois, March 3, 1815, and became a lawyer. From 1842 to 1846 he was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, and was, from 1850 to 1852, a member of the State Senate. He was Major of the Thirty-First Illinois Infantry, but resigned on account of ill health in the early part of the war. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to Congress from Illinois, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Green B. Raum.

ADDISON H. LAFLIN was born in Lee, Massachusetts, October 24, 1823. He graduated at Williams College in 1843. He afterward settled in Herkimer County, New York, and became engaged extensively in the manufacture of paper. In 1857 he was elected State Senator. In 1864 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.

HENRY S. LANE was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, February 24, 1811. After having obtained an academical education, he studied law, and removed to Indiana, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1837 he was elected to the Indiana Legislature. In 1840 he was elected a Representative in Congress from Indiana. He served under General Taylor in the Mexican War as Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers. He was President of the first Republican National Convention which met in Philadelphia, July 4, 1856. In 1861 he was elected Governor of Indiana, but resigned the office two days after his inauguration to accept the position of Senator in Congress, to which he was elected for the term ending in 1867. He was succeeded by Oliver P. Morton.—213, 381, 383, 499, 532.

JAMES H. LANE was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, June 22, 1814. He served as a soldier through the Mexican War, and soon after his return in 1849 was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Indiana. He was an active Democratic politician, and as such was elected a Representative in Congress from Indiana in 1853. Soon after the close of his Congressional term, he went to Kansas, where he actively aided in the work of erecting a Free-State Government. He was President of the Topeka and the Leavenworth Constitutional Conventions, and was elected by the people Major General of the Free-State Troops. On the admission of Kansas into the Union, he was elected a Senator in Congress from that State. Soon after the breaking out of the Rebellion, he was appointed by President Lincoln a Brigadier General of Volunteers. He was a member of the Baltimore Convention of 1864. In 1865 he was re-elected by the Legislature of Kansas a Senator in Congress. On the 1st of July, 1866, while at Fort Leavenworth on leave of absence from the Senate on account of ill-health, he committed suicide.—171, 201, 279, 284, 285, 457, 569.

GEORGE R. LATHAM was born in Prince William County, Virginia, March 9, 1832. He engaged in teaching school, and while in that employment studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. During the Presidential Campaign of 1860, he edited a paper in Grafton, Virginia. At the breaking out of the Rebellion, he entered the army as Captain, and became Colonel of the Second Virginia Volunteers. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from West Virginia to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by Bethuel M. Kitchen.