RUFUS P. SPALDING was born at West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, May 3, 1798. He entered Yale College in 1813, and graduated in 1817. After studying law he emigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained one year, and then went to Arkansas. Having spent a year and a half in that State he returned to Ohio, and practiced his profession successively in Warren, Ravenna, and Akron, and finally at Cleveland, where he now resides. In 1839 he was elected to the Ohio Legislature. He was re-elected in 1841, and made Speaker of the House. In 1849 he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. 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.—319, 443, 508.
WILLIAM SPRAGUE was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, September 11, 1830. He was educated chiefly at the Irving Institute, Tarrytown, New York. He subsequently spent several years in the counting-room of his uncle, upon whose death he came into possession of one of the largest manufacturing interests in the country. In 1861 he was elected Governor of Rhode Island. He entered with zeal into the national cause at the breaking out of the rebellion, and was with the Rhode Island Volunteers at the first battle of Bull Run. In 1862 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island for the term ending in 1869.—27, 494.
JOHN F. STARR was born in Philadelphia in 1818. He removed to New
Jersey in 1844, and engaged in business pursuits. In 1863 he was
elected a Representative from New Jersey to the Thirty-Ninth Congress.
He was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by William Moore.
THADDEUS STEVENS was born in Caledonia County, Vermont, April 4, 1793. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1814, and in the same year removed to Pennsylvania. While teaching in an academy he studied law, and in 1816 was admitted to the bar in the County of Adams. In 1833 he was elected to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and served four terms, rendering signal service to the State by originating the school-system of Pennsylvania. He early espoused the cause of anti-slavery, and became an earnest advocate of equal rights. In 1836 he was elected a member of the Convention to revise the State Constitution, and refused to append his name to the amended instrument, because it restricted suffrage on account of color. In 1838 he was appointed a Canal Commissioner. In 1842 he removed to Lancaster, where he now resides. In 1848 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-First Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Second, Thirty-Sixth, Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.—18, 24, 29, 34, 48, 156, 308, 325, 333, 336, 357, 366, 417, 418, 435, 436, 449, 463, 478, 502, 503, 504, 513, 514, 518, 524, 528, 535, 536, 547, 555, 557, 563, 575.
WILLIAM M. STEWART was born in Wayne County, New York, August 9, 1827, and removed with his father to Ohio in 1835. He entered Yale College in 1848, where he remained eighteen months. He then went to California and spent two years in the mining business. In 1852 he commenced studying law, and was soon after elected District Attorney for the County of Nevada. In 1854 he was appointed to perform the duties of Attorney General of California, and subsequently practiced law in Nevada City and Downieville. In 1860 he removed to that part of Utah territory which is now Nevada, and served in the Territorial Legislature of the following year. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1863. He was soon after elected a United States Senator from the new State of Nevada for the term ending in 1869.—28, 100, 107, 202, 275, 427, 435, 454, 456, 459, 530.
THOMAS N. STILWELL was born in Butler County, Ohio, August 29, 1830. He was educated at Miami University and Farmer's College. He studied law, and, removing to Indiana in 1852, he was admitted to the bar, and practiced until 1855, when he engaged in banking. In 1856 he was a Representative in the Indiana Legislature. He raised a regiment of volunteers for the war, and served some time as Quartermaster. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Indiana to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was succeeded in the Fortieth Congress by John P. C. Shanks. He was appointed by President Johnson United States Minister to Venezuela.—564.
JOHN P. STOCKTON was born in Princeton, New Jersey, August 2, 1825. His father and grandfather were United States Senators, and his great-grandfather was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He graduated at Princeton College in 1843, and, having studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849. He was appointed by the Legislature of New Jersey to revise the laws of the State. As reporter in chancery, he published three volumes of Reports, which bear his name. In 1858 he was appointed by President Buchanan Minister Resident to Rome. In 1865 he appeared in Congress as a Senator from New Jersey. The question of his right to the seat underwent long discussion, and at length was decided against him on the 27th of March, 1866.—568.
WILLIAM B. STOKES was born in Chatham County, North Carolina, September 9, 1814. His father was killed by an accident while emigrating to Tennessee in 1818. He enjoyed but few advantages of early education, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. In 1849 he was elected a Representative in the Tennessee Legislature, and was re-elected in 1851. He was elected to the State Senate in 1855. In 1859 he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-Sixth Congress. At the close of his Congressional term he took a bold stand and made numerous speeches against secession in Tennessee. In 1862 he recruited and commanded a regiment of cavalry, which saw much hard fighting and did valuable service. At the close of the war he was brevetted Brigadier General. In 1865 he was elected a Representative from Tennessee to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, and was admitted in July, 1866. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.—480, 536.
MYER STROUSE was born in Germany, December 16, 1825. He came with his father to America in 1832, and settled in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Having received an academical education, he studied law. From 1848 to 1852 he edited the "North American Farmer," in Philadelphia, and subsequently devoted himself to the practice of law. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected in 1864. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Henry L. Cake.—444.
CHARLES SUMNER was born in Boston, January 6, 1811. He graduated at Harvard College in 1830, spent three years in the Cambridge Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. For three years he edited the "American Jurist," and was subsequently Reporter of the United States Circuit Court. He published several volumes of Reports, and has devoted much attention to literary pursuits. He published in 1850 two volumes of "Orations;" in 1853 a work on "White Slavery in the Barbary States;" and in 1856 a volume of "Speeches and Addresses." In 1851 he was elected a United States Senator from Massachusetts. In 1856 he was assaulted in the Senate Chamber by Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, and so seriously injured that he sought restoration by a temporary absence in Europe. Just before his departure he was elected to the Senate for a second term, and in 1863 was re-elected for a third term ending in 1869.—15, 26, 28, 99, 108, 373, 374, 380, 386, 392, 406, 413, 435, 453, 483, 499, 540, 541, 563, 571.