History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States

by William Horatio Barnes

ELLIHU B. WASHBURN was born in Livermore, Maine, September 23 1816. After serving an apprenticeship in the printing-office of the "Kennebec Journal," he studied law at Harvard University. He subsequently removed to Illinois, and settled in Galena. In 1852 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-Third Congress. He has been elected to every succeeding Congress including the Fortieth, and has been longer in continuous service than any other member of the House.—30.

HENRY D. WASHBURN was born in Windsor, Vermont, March 28, 1832. In his youth he served one year as an apprentice to the tanner's trade, and subsequently was employed as a school-teacher. In 1853 he graduated at the New York State and National Law School, and settled in Newport, Indiana. In 1854 he was appointed Auditor of Vermillion County, and in 1856 was elected to the same position. In 1861 he raised a company of volunteers, of which he was elected Captain. He was soon after made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighteenth Indiana Infantry, and was commissioned Colonel June, 1862. He saw much active service, and was breveted a Major General July 26, 1865. He contested the seat held by D. W. Voorhees as a Representative from Indiana, and was declared by the Committee on Elections to be entitled to the place. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.—568.

WILLIAM B. WASHBURN was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, January 31, 1820. He graduated at Yale College in 1844, and subsequently engaged in the business of manufacturing. In 1850 he was a Senator, and in 1854 a Representative, in the Legislature of Massachusetts. He was subsequently President of Greenfield Bank. In 1862 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.

MARTIN WELKER was born in Knox County, Ohio, April 25, 1819. When a farmer's boy and a clerk in a store, he applied himself diligently to study, and without the aid of schools obtained a liberal education. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. In 1851 he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Sixth District of Ohio, and served five years. In 1857 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, and served one term, declining a renomination. At the beginning of the war he served three months as a staff officer with the rank of Major, and was then appointed Judge Advocate General of the State. In 1862 he was Assistant Adjutant General of Ohio, and Superintendent of the draft. In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Ohio to the Thirty-Ninth Congress and was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress.

JOHN WENTWORTH, grandson of a member of the Continental Congress of 1778, was born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, March 5, 1815. He graduated at Dartmouth College, and completed a course of legal study in Harvard University. In 1836 he removed to Illinois, and settled in Chicago. He conducted the "Chicago Democrat," as editor and proprietor, for twenty-five years. In 1837 he became a member of the Board of Education, and occupied that position many years. In 1842 he was elected a Representative from Illinois to the Twenty-Eighth Congress, and subsequently served in the Twenty-Ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-First, and Thirty-Second Congresses. In 1857 and 1860 he was Mayor of Chicago, and was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1861. In 1864 a Representative in Congress for his sixth term. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Norman B. Judd. In 1867 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College.—18, 556, 557.

KELLIAN V. WHALEY was born in Onondaga County, New York, May 6, 1821. When quite young he removed with his father to Ohio, where he was favored with few educational advantages. At the age of twenty-one he settled in Western Virginia, and engaged in the lumber and mercantile business. He was an active opponent of secession in 1860, and as such was elected a Representative in the Thirty-Seventh Congress. He acted as an Aid to Governor Pierpont in organizing regiments, and was in command in the battle of Guandotte, when he was taken prisoner, in November, 1861. He made his escape from his captors, however, and was soon able to take his seat in Congress. He was reëlected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Daniel Polsley.

WAITMAN T. WILLEY was born on Buffalo Creek, Monongalia County, Virginia, October 18, 1811. He graduated at Madison College in 1831, and was admitted to the bar. From 1841 to 1855 he was Clerk of the Courts of Monongalia County and the Judicial Circuit. He was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850. He was a delegate to the Richmond Convention held in the winter of 1860-61. In 1861 he was a member of the Wheeling Constitutional Convention. In 1863 he was elected a Senator in Congress from West Virginia, and has since been re-elected for the term commencing in 1865 and ending in 1871. In 1863 he received the degree of LL.D. from Alleghany College of Pennsylvania.—458, 485, 486, 496.

GEORGE H. WILLIAMS was born in Columbia County, New York, March 23, 1823. He received an academical education, and studied law. Immediately after being admitted to the bar in 1844 he removed to Iowa. In 1847 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial District of Iowa. In 1852 he was a Presidential Elector. In 1853 he was appointed by President Pierce Chief Justice of the Territory of Oregon, and was re-appointed by President Buchanan in 1857. He was a member of the Convention which framed the Constitution of Oregon. In 1864 he was elected a United States Senator from Oregon for the term ending in 1871.—393, 488, 516, 517, 529, 531, 539, 540, 559.

THOMAS WILLIAMS was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1806. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1825, and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1828, and settled in Pittsburg. From 1838 to 1841 he was member of the State Senate. In 1860 he was a Representative in the State Legislature. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirty-Eighth Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth and Fortieth Congresses.

HENRY WILSON was born in Farmington, New Hampshire, February 16, 1812. His parents were in very humble circumstances, and at ten years of age he was apprenticed to a farmer till he was twenty-one. On attaining his majority, he went to Natick, Massachusetts, where he learned the trade of shoemaking, and worked at the business nearly three years. He then secured an academical education, and, after teaching school a short time, engaged in shoe-manufacturing, which he continued for several years. In 1841 and 1842 he was a Senator, and in 1844, 1845, 1856, and 1850, a Representative, in the Legislature of Massachusetts. In 1851 and 1852 he was re-elected a member of the State Senate, of which he was President. In 1855 he was elected a United States Senator from Massachusetts to succeed Edward Everett, and in 1859 was re-elected for the full term. In the recess of Congress in the summer of 1861, he raised the Twenty-Second Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, of which he was commissioned Colonel. He subsequently served on General McClellan's staff, until the meeting of Congress in December. During the war he occupied the arduous and responsible position in the Senate of Chairman of the Committee of Military Affairs. At the opening of the Thirty-Ninth Congress he entered upon his third Senatorial term, which will end in 1871.—15, 95, 97, 101, 135, 214, 402, 410, 431, 435, 437, 487, 491, 498, 530, 531, 532.