Biographical Directory
of the
American Congress, 1774-1949
Source: Ancestry.com
Biographies
C
page 998
COCKS, William Willets (brother of Frederick Cocks Hicks), a
Representative from New York; born in Old Westbury, Long Island,
N.Y., July 24, 1861; attended private schools and Swarthmore
College, Swarthmore, Pa.; engaged in agricultural pursuits;
elected commissioner of highways of the town of North Hempstead
in 1894; reelected in 1896 and again in 1898; served in the State
senate in 1901 and 1902; member of the State assembly in 1904;
delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in
1908; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth, and
Sixty-first Congresses (March 4, 1905-March 3, 1911);
unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 to the Sixty-second
Congress; again engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the
board of managers of Swarthmore College; president of the Friends
Academy, Locust Valley, Nassau County; vice president of the
Roslyn Savings Bank; a director of the Bank of Westbury and the
Bank of Hicksville; elected mayor of the village of Old Westbury,
Long Island, N.Y., in 1924 and served until his death there on
May 24, 1932; interment in Friends Cemetery, Westbury, Long
Island, N.Y.
Biographies
D
page 1050
DALE, Harry Howard, a Representative from New York; born in New
York City December 3, 1868; moved with his parents to Brooklyn in
1870; attended the public schools of Brooklyn and New York Law
School; was admitted to the bar May 14, 1891, and commenced
practice in Brooklyn, N.Y.; member of the State assembly
1899-1904; attorney for the State comptroller in 1911 and 1912;
elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third, Sixty-fourth, and
Sixty-fifth Congresses and served from March 4, 1913, to January
6, 1919, when he resigned; appointed judge of the magistrate's
court in 1919; reappointed in 1929 and served from January 7,
1919, to July 21, 1931; appointed judge for the court of special
sessions on July 22, 1931, and served until his death in
Bellmore, Nassau County, N.Y., November 17, 1935; remains were
cremated and the ashes deposited in an urn and placed in Fresh
Pond Road Crematory, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Biographies
D
page 1063
DAVIS, John William (son of John James Davis), a Representative
from West Virginia; born in Clarksburg, Harrison County, W. Va.,
April 13, 1873; attended various private schools; was graduated
from the literary department of Washington and Lee University,
Lexington, Va., in 1892; taught school; reentered [p.1063] the
university and was graduated from its law department in 1895; was
admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in
Clarksburg, W. Va.; professor of law at Washington and Lee
University in 1896 and 1897; resumed the practice of law in
Clarksburg, W. Va., in 1897; member of the State house of
delegates in 1899; delegate to the Democratic National Convention
at St. Louis in 1904; president of the West Virginia Bar
Association in 1906; appointed a member of the West Virginia
Commission on Uniform State Laws in 1909; elected as a Democrat
to the Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses and served from
March 4, 1911, to August 29, 1913, when he resigned; one of the
managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1912 to
conduct the impeachment proceedings against Robert W. Archbald,
judge of the United States Commerce Court; Solicitor General of
the United States 1913-1918; appointed Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary to Great Britain and served from November 21,
1918, to March 31, 1921; member of the American delegation for
conference with Germany on the treatment and exchange of
prisoners of war, held in Berne, Switzerland, in September 1918;
honorary bencher of the Middle Temple, London, England;
unsuccessful Democratic candidate for President of the United
States in 1924; is a resident of Nassau County, N.Y., and
practices law in New York City.
Biographies
H
page 1252
HALL, Leonard Wood, a Representative from New York; born in
Oyster Bay, Nassau County, N.Y., October 2, 1900; attended the
public schools; was graduated from the law department, of
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1920; was admitted to
the bar in 1921 and commenced practice in New York City; member
of the State assembly in 1927 and 1928 and 1934-1938; sheriff of
Nassau County, N.Y., 1929-1931; delegate to the Republican State
conventions 1930-1946 and to the Republican National Convention
at Philadelphia in 1948; elected as a Republican to the
Seventy-sixth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3,
1939-January 3, 1949). Reelected to the Eighty-first Congress.
Biographies
L
page 1467
LITTLETON, Martin Wiley, a Representative from New York; born
near Kingston, Roane County, Tenn., January 12, 1872; moved to
Texas in 1881 with his parents, who settled in Dallas; attended
the common schools; studied law; was [p.1467] admitted to the bar
in 1891 and commenced practice in Dallas, Tex.; prosecuting
attorney of Dallas County 1893-1896; moved to New York City in
1896 and continued the practice of his profession; district
attorney of Kings County, N.Y., 1900-1904; delegate to the
Democratic National Convention at St. Louis in 1904; president of
the Borough of Brooklyn in 1904 and 1905; elected as a Democrat
to the Sixty-second Congress (March 4, 1911-March 3, 1913); was
not a candidate for reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third
Congress; resumed the practice of law, and resided in New York
City and Mineola, Nassau County, Long Island; died at Mineola,
N.Y., on December 19, 1934; interment in the Littleton family
mausoleum, Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City, N.Y.
Biographies
L
page 1471
LOFT, George William, a Representative from New York; born in New
York City February 6, 1865; attended the public schools; engaged
in the manufacture of candy from early boyhood; director in
several corporations; presidential elector on the Democratic
ticket of Wilson and Marshall in 1912 and the ticket of Davis and
Bryan in 1924; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third Congress
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Timothy D. Sullivan;
reelected in 1914 to the Sixty-fourth Congress and served from
November 4, 1913, to March 3, 1917; was not a candidate for
renomination in 1916; resumed the candy manufacturing business
until 1929, when he founded the South Shore Trust Co. in
Rockville Centre, Nassau County, N.Y., and served as president
until his death; also interested in other financial institutions;
died in Baldwin, Nassau County, N.Y., November 6, 1943; interment
in St. Raymond's Cemetery, Westchester, New York City, N.Y.
Biographies
M
page 1574
MITCHILL, Samuel Latham, a Representative and a Senator from New
York; born in Hempstead, Nassau County, N.Y., August 20, 1764;
pursued classical studies; studied medicine and was graduated
from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1786; studied law
and was admitted to the bar; commissioner to purchase the lands
of the Iroquois Indians in western New York in 1788; member of
the State assembly in 1791 and 1798; professor of chemistry and
natural history in Columbia College in 1792; one of the founders
of the State Society for the Promotion of Agriculture in 1793;
editor of the quarterly, New York Medical Repository, 1797-1813;
elected as a Democrat to the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth
Congresses and served from March 4, 1801, until his resignation
November 22, 1804, before the close of the Eighth Congress,
having been elected Senator; one of the managers appointed by the
House of Representatives in 1804 to conduct the impeachment
proceedings against John Pickering, judge of the United States
District Court of New Hampshire; elected to the United States
Senate on November 9, 1804, to fill the vacancy caused by the
resignation of John Armstrong, but did not qualify immediately,
retaining his seat in the House, and served in the Senate from
November 23, 1804, to March 3, 1809; elected to the Eleventh
Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William
Denning; reelected to the Twelfth Congress and served from
December 4, 1810, to March 3, 1813; surgeon general of the State
militia in 1818; founder and president of the Lyceum of Natural
History of New York City 1817-1823; professor of natural history
in the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons 1808-1820 and
of botany and materia medica 1820-1826; vice president of Rutgers
Medical School 1826-1830; died in New York City September 7,
1831; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Biographies
P
page 1695
POST, Jotham, Jr., a Representative from New York; born near
Westbury, Nassau County, N.Y., April 4, 1771; was graduated from
Columbia College, New York City, in 1792; studied medicine but
did not practice; engaged in the drug-importing business in New
York City; member of the board of aldermen; served in the State
assembly 1795 and 1805-1808; director of the New York Hospital
1798-1802; elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth Congress
(March 4, 1813-March 3, 1815); died in New York City, N.Y., May
15, 1817.
Biographies
R
page 1757
ROOSEVELT, Theodore (great-great-grandson of Archibald Bulloch
and nephew of Robert Barnwell Roosevelt), a Vice President and a
President of the United States; born in New York City October 27,
1858; attended the public schools; was graduated from Harvard
University in 1880; studied law; traveled abroad; member of the
New York State Assembly 1882-1884; delegate to the Republican
National Convention at Chicago in 1884; moved to North Dakota and
lived on his ranch; returned to New York City in 1886; appointed
by President Harrison a member of the United States Civil Service
Commission in 1889 and served until 1895, when he resigned to
become president of the New York Board of Police Commissioners;
resigned this position upon his appointment by President McKinley
as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in April 1897 and served until
1898, when he resigned to enter the war with Spain; during the
war organized the First Regiment, United States Volunteer
Cavalry, popularly known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders; appointed
lieutenant colonel and later colonel of this regiment; Governor
of New York in 1899 and 1900; elected Vice President of the
United States on the Republican ticket headed by William McKinley
in 1900 and was inaugurated March 4, 1901; upon the death of
President McKinley on September 14, 1901, became President of the
United States and served until March 3, 1905; elected President
of the United States on the Republican ticket with Charles W.
Fairbanks as Vice President in 1904; was inaugurated March 4,
1905, and served until March 3, 1909; organized a scientific
expedition to South Africa, outfitted by the Smithsonian
Institution, to gather natural-history materials for the new
United States National Museum at Washington, D.C., in 1910;
special ambassador of the United States at the funeral of King
Edward VII of England in 1910; unsuccessful candidate of the
Progressive Party for President of the United States in 1912;
headed an exploring party to South America in 1914; was again
nominated as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States
by the Progressive Party Convention at Chicago in 1916, but
declined; engaged in literary pursuits; died at Oyster Bay,
Nassau County, N.Y., January 6, 1919; interment in Young's
Memorial Cemetery.
Biographies
R
page 1762
ROWE, Frederick William, a Representative from New York; born at
Wappingers Falls, Dutchess County, N.Y., March 19, 1863; attended
the common schools; was graduated from De Garmo Institute in 1882
and from Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y., in 1887; studied
law; was admitted to the bar in New York City in 1889 and
practiced in Brooklyn and New York City until 1904, when he
became interested in the development of real estate in Brooklyn;
president of several companies, including a street railway
company; director of the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn; member of
the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; elected as a Republican to the
Sixty-fourth, Sixty-fifth, and Sixty-sixth Congresses (March 4,
1915-March 3, 1921); was not a candidate for renomination in
1920; resumed his former business activities in New York City;
died in Rockville Centre, Nassau County, N.Y., June 20, 1946;
interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Biographies
S
page 1772
SAGE, Russell, a Representative from New York; born in
Shenandoah, Oneida County, N.Y., August 4, 1816; moved with his
parents to Durhamville in 1818; attended the public schools;
engaged in mercantile pursuits in Troy, N.Y.; treasurer of
Rensselaer County 1844-1851; alderman of Troy 1845-1848; delegate
to the Whig National Convention at Baltimore in 1848; elected as
a Whig to the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Congresses (March 4,
1853-March 3, 1857); was not a candidate for renomination in
1856; moved to New York City in 1863 and engaged in banking;
became president and director of several railroad companies and
financial institutions; died in Lawrence, Nassau County, Long
Island, N.Y., July 22, 1906; interment in Oakwood Cemetery, Troy,
N.Y.
Biographies
S
page 1791
SEARING, John Alexander, a Representative from New York; born in
North Hempstead, N.Y., May 14, 1805; completed preparatory
studies; sheriff of Queens County, N.Y., 1843-1846; member of the
State assembly in 1854; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth
Congress (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1859); declined to be a
candidate for renomination in 1858; died in Mineola, Nassau
County, N.Y., May 6, 1876; interment in Greenfield Cemetery,
Hempstead, N.Y.
Biographies
W
page 1974
WARD, Elijah (nephew of Aaron Ward), a Representative from New
York; born in Sing Sing (now Ossining), N.Y., September 16, 1816;
pursued classical studies; engaged in commercial pursuits in New
York City and at the same time attended the law department of New
York University; was admitted to the bar in 1843 and commenced
practice in New York City; judge advocate general of the State
1853-1855; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at
Cincinnati in 1856, which nominated James Buchanan, of
Pennsylvania, for President, and John C. Breckinridge, of
Kentucky, for Vice President; elected as a Democrat to the
Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1859); unsuccessful
candidate for reelection in 1858 to the Thirty-sixth Congress;
elected to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March
4, 1861-March 3, 1865); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in
1864 to the Thirty-ninth Congress; traveled in Europe for two
years, after which he resumed the practice of law in New York
City; elected to the Forty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1875-March
3, 1877); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1876 to the
Forty-fifth Congress; died in Roslyn, Nassau County, N.Y.,
February 7, 1882; interment in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City,
N.Y.
This page was last updated March 1, 2001.