Biography

A Senator from New Hampshire; born in Stratham, N.H., October 24, 1809; attended the common schools, Hampton Academy, and Union College, Schenectady, N.Y.; graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1834; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1837 and commenced practice in Epping, N.H.; moved to Manchester in 1839; member, State house of representatives 1842-1843, 1846, 1854-1855; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James Bell; reelected in 1861, and served from June 27, 1857, to July 27, 1866, when he resigned; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Thirty-eighth Congress; chairman, Committee on Claims (Thirty-seventh through Thirty-ninth Congresses); United States district judge from 1866 until his death; president of the New Hampshire constitutional convention in 1876; died in Manchester, N.H., on January 2, 1891; interment in Valley Cemetery.