History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States

by William Horatio Barnes

THOMAS E. NOELL was born in Perryville, Missouri, April 3, 1839. He was admitted to the bar at nineteen years of age, and practiced until 1861, when he was appointed a Military Commissioner for the arrest of disloyal persons. He subsequently went into the ranks of the State militia, and reached the rank of Major. In 1862 he was appointed a Captain in the Nineteenth Regiment of Regular United States Infantry. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.

DANIEL S. NORTON was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, April 12, 1829. After being educated at Kenyon College, he served in the Mexican War. He subsequently went to California, and thence to Nicaragua, where he spent a year. Returning to Ohio, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. He emigrated to Minnesota in 1855, and was, two years after, elected to the State Senate, to which he was three times re-elected. In 1865 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Minnesota for the term ending in 1871.

JAMES W. NYE was born in Madison County, New York, June 10, 1815, and entered the profession of law. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln Governor of Nevada Territory. He held this office until the admission of Nevada into the Union, when he was elected a Senator from the new State for the term ending in 1871.—425, 457.

CHARLES O'NEILL was born in Philadelphia, March 21, 1821. Having graduated at Dickinson College, and studied law, he was admitted to the bar in 1843. He served five years in the House of Representatives and Senate of Pennsylvania. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress. In 1865 he entered upon his second term in Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.

GODLOVE S. ORTH was born near Lebanon, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1817. He was educated at the Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg. In 1839 he was admitted to the bar, and removed to Indiana, locating in Lafayette. In 1843 he was elected to the Indiana Senate, and served six years. A part of the time he was President of that body. In 1848 he was a Whig candidate for Presidential Elector. In 1861 he was a member of the "Peace Congress." In 1862, Indiana being threatened with a sudden invasion, the Governor made a call for volunteers to meet the emergency. Mr. Orth immediately responded with two hundred men, who elected him their Captain. He was placed in command of the U. S. Ram "Horner," which cruised the Ohio river, and did much to restore and maintain quiet along its shores. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.—336.

HALBERT E. PAINE was born at Chardon, Ohio, February 4, 1826. Having graduated at the Western Reserve College in 1845, he studied law, and located in Cleveland. In 1857 he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He entered the army in 1861 as Colonel of the Fourth Wisconsin Regiment, and soon rose to the rank of Brigadier General. He lost a leg in June, 1863, at the last assault on Port Hudson. Resigning his commission in 1865, he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Ninth Congress from Wisconsin, and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.—504, 506.

DAVID T. PATTERSON was born at Cedar Creek, Green County, Tennessee, February 28, 1819. He was educated at Meadow Creek Academy and Greenville College. He followed for some time the business of a paper-maker, but gave attention to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1841, and practiced in Greenville. Here he married a daughter of Andrew Johnson. In 1854 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Tennessee. In May, 1865, he was elected a United States Senator from Tennessee for the term ending in 1869. After a protracted consideration and discussion of his case, he was sworn in near the close of the first session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress.—478, 482.

JAMES W. PATTERSON was born in Hanniker, New Hampshire, July 2, 1823. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1848. He was Professor of Mathematics in Dartmouth College from 1854 to 1859, and was then transferred to the chair of Astronomy and Meteorology. He was four years Secretary of the Board of Education of New Hampshire, and in 1862 he was a member of the State Legislature. He was elected a Representative from New Hampshire to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. At the expiration of the latter Congress he became United States Senator from Vermont for the term ending in 1873.

SIDNEY PERHAM was born in Woodstock, Maine, March 27, 1819. Until his thirty-fourth year he was a farmer and a teacher. In 1852 he was elected a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and served two years. In 1855 he was a member of the Maine Legislature, and officiated as Speaker. In 1856 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1858 he was elected Clerk of a County Court, which position he held until 1862, when he was elected a Representative from Maine to the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.

CHARLES E. PHELPS was born in Guilford, Vermont, May 1, 1833. Having graduated at Princeton College in 1853, he came to the Maryland bar in 1855. In 1862 he was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh Maryland Volunteers, and was discharged, on account of wounds, in 1864. He was elected a Representative from Maryland to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was re-elected in 1866.—156.