Representatives who Voted for the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, Abolishing Slavery, 38th Congress

THAYER, M. Russell, born 1819, jurist.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.  In Congress 1862-1867.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.   


M. RUSSELL THAYER was born in Petersburg, Virginia, January 27, 1819, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1840. He studied law, and having been admitted to the bar in 1842, he located in Philadelphia. In 1862 he was elected a Representative in the Thirty-Eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Ninth. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Caleb N. Taylor.  

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868, pp. 83, 325, 438, 522, 538.

THAYER, Martin Russell, jurist, born in Petersburg, Virginia, 27 January, 1819, was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1840, admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1842, and began to practise in that city. In 1862-'7 he sat in congress, having been elected as a Republican, serving in the committee on the bankrupt law and as chairman of the committee on private land claims. In 1862 he was appointed a commissioner to revise the revenue laws of Pennsylvania, and in 1867, declining re-election to congress, he was appointed one of the judges of the district court of the county of Philadelphia, and he has recently been re-elected. In 1873 he was appointed on the board of visitors to West Point, and wrote the report. In the succeeding year he became president-judge of the court of common pleas of Philadelphia. He is the author of “The Duties of Citizenship” (Philadelphia, 1862); “The Great Victory: its Cost and Value” (1865); “The Law considered as a Progressive Science” (1870); “On Libraries” (1871); “The Life and Works of Francis Lieber” (1873); and “The Battle of Germantown” (1878).

Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Volume VI, pp. 73.



THOMAS, Francis  1799-1876, lawyer, statesman.  Opposed slavery in Maryland State Constitutional Convention of 1850.  Fought, in the constitutional convention of 1850-51, the system of representation whereby the small slave-holding counties held power over the populous western counties.  Governor of Maryland, 1841-1844.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland.  In Congress December 1831-March 1841 and 1861-1869.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


THE Catoctin Valley, in Frederick County, Maryland, was a pronounced by Henry Clay, who was accustomed to pass through it by stage on his way to Washington, to be one of the loveliest spots in America. In this beautiful valley Francis Thomas was born, February 3,1799. His ancestors were among the early and prominent residents of Maryland. His father, Colonel John Thomas, filled many offices of trust and honor in the State.

In his childhood, Francis Thomas manifested an unusual taste for reading and study. At the age of twelve he left his father's roof to become a student in Frederick College, and subsequently prosecuted his studies at St. John's College, Annapolis. Being of a thoughtful, philosophic cast of mind, he soon perceived and reflected deeply upon the evils of slavery, and in early life conceived that abhorrence for the institution which made him in after years one of its most determined opponents.

Mr. Thomas studied law at Annapolis in the office of Alexander C. Magruder, afterwards one of the judges of the Court of Appeals of Maryland. He was admitted to the bar and commenced the practise of law at Frederick in 1820. At the age of twenty-three he was elected a member of the House of Delegates. He was twice re-elected, and in 1829 was chosen Speaker of the House.

In 1831 Mr. Thomas was elected a Representative in Congress, and held this office by re-election for ten successive years. In 1833 he ran for Congress as the regular nominee of the Jackson Democracy. The Whigs had made no nomination, and were disposed to support an independent Jackson candidate, whose name was Dixon. On the day of the election, Henry Clay, passing through Maryland by stage on his way to Washington, stopped for a short time in the village of Middletown. He asked who were the candidates, and on being informed, he said, with emphasis: "I would rather vote for Frank Thomas than for any other Jackson man in Maryland." The influence of Clay's emphatic indorsement was such that in this village Mr. Thomas received five hundred and fifty votes against fifty for his opponent, nearly all the latter having been cast before Mr. Clay's arrival.

In 1832 Mr. Thomas was a member of a committee associated with John M. Clayton, John Quincy Adams, Eichard M. Johnson, McDuffie, and Cambrelling, to examine into the condition of the United States Bank. They went to Philadelphia, and took rooms at the same hotel, prosecuting their work assiduously for more than a month. The shrewdness of Mr. Thomas aided materially in discovering evidences of fraud and corruption in the Bank.

While in Congress Mr. Thomas boldly and earnestly opposed the schemes of the Southern Nullifiers. At one time, John Quincy Adams having in the House of Representatives presented a petition signed by negro slaves of Fredericksburg, the extreme Southerners became very indignant, and offered a resolution in the House, the substance of which was that no member who presented a petition from slaves should be regarded as a gentleman or a friend of the Union. The resolution was promptly and decisively voted down. Mr. Thomas was soon after appointed on a Committee to inform Mr. Van Buren of his election to the Presidency of the United States. Having performed this duty, on his return to the Hall of Representatives he was surprised to see the seats of the Southern members all vacant, and was informed that the Representatives from the Slave States were holding a consultation in the Committee Room of Claims. Supposing there was mischief brewing, Mr. Thomas went immediately to the designated room, where he found about seventy Representatives assembled. Asking whether his presence would be considered an intrusion, he was answered in the negative, since all Representatives from Slave States had been invited. Having learned that they were seriously considering the question of a summary secession from Congress, on account of the rejection of the resolution, Mr. Thomas took the floor and spoke earnestly and eloquently against the rashness and folly of the movement proposed. He closed with a motion to adjourn, which was carried, and nothing more was heard of the rash design of the offended slaveholders.

At one time, during the administration of Mr. Van Buren, eight Southern members attempted to control Congress, and were thwarted in their schemes by Mr. Thomas. The Whigs and Democrats in the House were then very nearly equally divided. The position of public printer was very lucrative, and much sought after. Gales & Seaton were supported by the Whigs, and Blair & Rives by the Democrats. Eight Southerners bargained with the latter firm that they should have their votes to secure for them the public printing, provided the influence of the firm would be given to throw the votes of the Democratic party for Dixon H. Lewis, one of their number, for the Speakership. Mr. Thomas, however, and ten other Democrats, resolved that this should not be, and, by steadily holding out, prevented the election, which was to be secured by bargain and corruption. At one stage in the contest President Van Buren's son visited Mr. Thomas, and urged him, as a special favor to the President, to yield and vote for Lewis. "Not all the power and patronage of your father," he replied, "could induce me to do a thing which I regard as so dangerous to the country."

He was one of a committee appointed in 1837 to draft a resolution, as a standing order of the House, directing the mode in which petitions for the abolition of slavery should be disposed of. Soon after the committee had assembled, Dixon H. Lewis of Alabama, Francis W. Pickens, and R. Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina, entered the room and announced themselves as the representatives of a party then known as " Nullifiers," comprising only eight members of the House of Representatives. They professed to be anxious that they and those they represented should act in concert with the Democratic party, but regretted that it had not yet taken ground satisfactory to them on the question of slavery. Mr. Thomas asked them what they desired. They replied, "Our people of the South expect and require that the Democratic Representatives declare that Congress has no power to prohibit the introduction of slavery into the territories." Mr. Thomas answered, " I will not wait for gentlemen on this committee from the Northern States to respond to this proposition. I will not myself vote for any resolution to that effect. It would inevitably lead to combinations against, the institution of slavery, and ultimately to its overthrow. It would be equivalent to a declaration that the Missouri compromise line ought to be repealed. That line was established under Mr. Munroe's administration, when he was surrounded by leading Southern men in his cabinet. It was sanctioned by the votes of leading Southern men in both branches of Congress, and I will not myself assist to disturb it." The Committee, of which Air. Atherton of New Hampshire was chairman, refused to adopt such a resolution, and Mr. Calhoun's representatives retired. During the long period of his first service in Congress Mr. Thomas took rank among the most influential and efficient members. He occupied for a considerable time the important position of chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He originated a measure, which was adopted by Congress, to settle the controversy between Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan about the Southern boundary of the last-named State.

In 1841 Mr. Thomas declined a re-election to Congress, desiring to devote himself to the work of bringing about in Maryland a constitutional reform which he had agitated many years before.

By the old constitution of Maryland the slaveholding counties were allowed three-fifths of the representation in the Legislative Assembly of the State. Baltimore, with a population of two hundred thousand, was allowed but two representatives, and the entire western portion of the State, with a preponderance of wealth and population, had so meagre a representation as practically to possess no power whatever. The Whigs controlled the slaveholding counties, and the Democrats the western counties and Baltimore City.

By the constitution of the State a College of Electors was chosen by the people, consisting of forty members, whose duty it was to elect a governor and a Senate for a term of five years. Mr. Thomas being a Democrat in politics, and an ardent hater of slavery, determined to use all the influence he possessed to break up the constitutional oligarchy which ruled the State.

The fortunate election of a College of Senatorial Electors consisting of twenty-one Whigs and nineteen Democrats, gave to Mr. Thomas an opportunity which he had long desired. Since no business could be done without a quorum of three-fifths, three Democrats were necessary for the organization of the body. Mr. Thomas induced the nineteen Democrats to enter into a solemn agreement that they would not take seats in the College of Electors unless the latter would consent to give to the western counties a fair proportion of the representation, and make the governor elective by the people. The Democratic electors went in the same boat from Baltimore to Annapolis, accompanied by Mr. Thomas, who secured quarters for all at the same hotel. They made an organization with a president and secretary, through whom they submitted their terms to the majority, taking care that no three should at any one time go together. The majority not acceding to the proposition, the Democrats, under the lead of Mr. Thomas, adjourned, and left Annapolis. After this revolution—for it was nothing less, the old constitution being practically annulled—Mr. Thomas issued a call upon the voters to select delegates to a convention for the formation of a new constitution. As he saw great obstacles in the way of securing this result immediately, the most he expected to accomplish by issuing the call for a convention was to consolidate all parties in the western portion of the State, and thereby secure acquiescence in the just demands of that section. "While the call for a Constitutional Convention was pending, and after the "Whig electors had been at the capital two months, impatiently waiting to effect an organization, Mr. Thomas consented that three Democratic members elect, who lived nearest, should go, and apparently on their own responsibility propose to form a quorum on condition that the constitution should be altered so that the governor and State senators should be elected by the people. The desired result was gained. A more just and equal representation was secured, and the governor was ever after elected by the people. Mr. Thomas himself was the second governor elected under the amended constitution. He held the office one term, and retired from the gubernatorial chair in January, 1845. Two years later he declined to be a candidate for Congress. In 1850 he was a member of the Maryland State Constitutional Convention.

Many years before he had purchased a large tract of land on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, in the extreme western end of Maryland. Soon after the close of his public service as governor he went into the wilderness on this great estate, and devoted himself for many years to its development and improvement. From his retired residence among the Alleghanies

Mr. Thomas viewed events that were passing in the country with the profound interest of a patriot and philanthropist. Mr. Thomas was drawn from his retirement by the danger which he saw gathering against the country in 1860. Having in the course of his long service in Congress thoroughly learned the character of the Southern men engaged in the conspiracy against the government, he understood their designs in breaking up the Charleston Convention. He believed that the plan of the Breckinridge party was to get as large a vote in Maryland and other border States as possible, with the expectation that those who voted with them would be ready to join in rebellion. Under this impression Mr. Thomas, yielding to the invitation of his old constituents, came from his seclusion and made numerous speeches against the treason of secession, prior to the Presidential election of 1860.

When President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand men to put down the rebellion, Governor Hicks responded that he would send the quota of Maryland with the express understanding that the troops should go no further than Washington, and be used only in defending the capital. When Mr. Thomas heard of this response, he at once wrote a letter to Governor Hicks protesting against such a narrow construction of the duty of Maryland, and asking authority to raise a regiment of men in his old Congressional district who would be willing to go anywhere in the service of the country against its enemies.

Before the proposition was acted upon by Governor Hicks, his proclamation appeared convening the Legislature of Maryland, both branches of which were known to be in sympathy with the rebellion. Thereupon Mr. Thomas wrote to the Secretary of War, and asked permission to raise a brigade of Marylanders to quell the insurrectionary movement in that State. Failing to get this authority, Mr. Thomas next laid his plans before President Lincoln, who directed Secretary Cameron to make out the requisite authority.

In a short time, as the result of the efforts of Mr. Thomas, thirty-five hundred men were enrolled as volunteers. All this was done with little expense to the government, since Mr. Thomas would accept no pay for his personal services, and refused the offer of a brigadier-general's commission.

In March, 1863, Mr. Thomas proposed to Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet a plan which was designed to rid Maryland of slavery. To effect this it was necessary to secure the election of a Legislature which would order a convention to revise the Constitution of the State. Mr. Thomas expected by his personal influence to carry the western counties for the scheme, and as the Government had a controlling influence in Baltimore the measure could be carried against the solid opposition of the lower or slaveholding counties.

The President and Cabinet at once approved the plan, and, by an arrangement then made, the movement was started under the immediate auspices of Mr. Thomas, who addressed a public meeting in Cumberland in support of resolutions instructing the Legislature to call a Convention to reform the State Constitution. A full report of the proceedings of this meeting was, by direction of the government, copied into the Baltimore papers, and thus the movement was fully inaugurated. The Legislature was carried in the fall for the measure, and a Convention was called in 1861, which submitted to a vote of the people a constitution securing the abolition of slavery in Maryland. It received their sanction by a small majority, and thus Maryland was placed beyond the reach of agitation in relation to the " vexed question of slavery." The next time Mr. Thomas visited the White House after the accomplishment of this result, President Lincoln arose to meet him, and grasping both his hands, exclaimed in his peculiarly cordial and emphatic manner: "that is a big thing, that is a big thing, that is a big' thing!" His proposing and assisting to carry into effect a measure emancipating nearly one hundred thousand human beings, and ridding a State forever of the curse of slavery, was an achievement sufficient to make a statesman distinguished for all time.

In the Thirty-seventh Congress Mr. Thomas took his seat for his sixth term as a Representative, and was successively re-elected to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. He served with usefulness upon one of the most important committees of the House—that of the Judiciary. Closing his ninth term in Congress in March, 1869, Mr. Thomas went voluntarily into retirement, believing that the great work which he had, at an advanced period of life, come into Congress to assist in consummating, was virtually accomplished. Reviewing the long and active public life of Mr. Thomas, at the close of his Congressional service, the " Frederick Examiner" said: "We have a right to claim for our loyal Representative the proud title of the Emancipator of Maryland."

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.

THOMAS, Francis, governor of Maryland, born in Frederick county, Md., 3 February, 1799; died near Frankville. Md., 22 January, 1876. He was graduated at St. John's college, Annapolis, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1820, and began practice in Frankville. He was a member of the state house of representatives in 1822, 1827, and 1829, being speaker the last year, was elected to five consecutive congresses, serving from 5 December, 1831, till 3 March, 1841, was president of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal company in 1839-'40, and governor of Maryland in 1841-'4. During his canvass for the governorship he fought a duel with William Price. He was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1850, and was instrumental in having a measure adopted that weakened the power of the slave-holding counties. He was again in congress from 1861 till 1869. During the civil war Mr. Thomas supported the Union cause, raised a volunteer brigade of 3,000 men, but he refused a command. He was a delegate to the Loyalist convention of 1866, and subsequently opposed President Johnson. He was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Cumberland district, and served from April, 1870, till he was appointed minister to Peru, 25 March, 1872. He held this post till 9 July, 1875, and afterward retired to his farm near Frankland, where he was killed by a locomotive while walking on the railroad-track.

Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Volume VI, pp. 78.



TRACY, Henry Wells, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1862 he was elected as an Independent Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); collector of the port of Philadelphia in 1866; voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.   


TRACY, HENRY WELLS, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Ulster Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, September 24, 1807; completed preparatory studies; attended Angelica Seminary in Allegany County, New York; studied law; engaged in mercantile pursuits and as a road contractor in Standing Stone, Pennsylvania, Havre de Grace, Maryland, and Towanda, Pennsylvania; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860; member of the State house of representatives in 1861 and 1862; elected as an Independent Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); collector of the port of Philadelphia in 1866; resumed mercantile pursuits; died at Standing Stone, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, April 11, 1886; interment in the Brick Church Cemetery, Wysox, Pennsylvania. 

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



UPSON, Charles, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. 


CHARLES UPSON is a native of Connecticut, and was born in Hartford County of that State, March 19, 1821. He was reared as a farmer boy, received a common-school education, subsequently, however, enjoying the advantages of a neighboring academy, during several terms. At sixteen he commenced teaching school; thus employing himself for seven successive winters, and devoting the intervening summers, for the most part, to labor upon the farm of his father. When twenty-three years old he entered the law school of Yale College, pursuing there, during one year, the study of law. At the end of this time, in the fall of 1845, he went to Michigan, St. Joseph County, where he continued his law studies, accompanied with one or two terms of teaching school. Two years after his removal, he was appointed deputy-clerk of the county, serving two years in this capacity. In the meantime, he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the State, and in the following year was elected, as the Whig candidate, clerk of the county of St. Joseph. Two years afterwards he was elected prosecuting attorney for the same county, holding this office during two years.

Mr. Upson was in 1854, as the Republican candidate, elected State Senator; and at the close of his Senatorial term, he removed to Coldwater, Michigan, his present residence. In I860 he received the election of attorney-general of the State of Michigan, and held the office two years. In 1862 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. He served on the Committee on Elections, and was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Navy Department.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



VAN VALKENBURGH, Robert Bruce, 1821-1888, lawyer, Union Colonel.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, 1861-1865, Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1865).  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


VAN VALKENBURGH, ROBERT BRUCE, a Representative from New York; born in Prattsburg, Steuben County, New York, September 4, 1821; attended Franklin Academy, Prattsburg, New York; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Bath, New York; member of the State assembly in 1852 and again in 1857 and 1858; was in command of the recruiting depot in Elmira, New York, and organized seventeen regiments for the Civil War; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1865); chairman, Committee on Militia (Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses); served as colonel of the One Hundred and Seventh Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and was its commander at the Battle of Antietam; Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1865; appointed Minister Resident to Japan January 18, 1866, and served until November 11, 1869; settled in Florida; appointed associate justice of the State supreme court on May 20, 1874, and served until his death in Suwanee Springs, near Live Oak, Suwanee County, Florida, August 1, 1888; interment in Old St. Nicholas Cemetery, on the south side of the St. Johns River, south of Jacksonville, Florida. 

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.

VAN VALKENBURG, Robert Bruce, congressman, born in Steuben county, New York, 4 September, 1821; died at Suwanee Springs, Florida, 2 August, 1888. He received an academic education, adopted the profession of law, and served three terms in the New York assembly. When the civil war opened he was placed in command of the state recruiting depot at Elmira, New York, and organized seventeen regiments for the field. He served in congress in 1861-'5, having been chosen as a Republican, and took the field in 1862 as colonel of the 107th regiment of New York volunteers, which he commanded at Antietam. In the 38th congress he was chairman of the committees on the militia, and expenditures in the state department. He was appointed by President Johnson in 1865 acting commissioner of Indian affairs, during the absence of the commissioner, and in 1866-'9 was U. S. minister to Japan. He became a resident of Florida when he returned from that mission, and was chosen associate justice of the state supreme court, which place he held at his death. Judge Van Valkenburg was an able politician and jurist.

Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Volume VI, pp. 256. 



WASHBURN, William Barrett, 1820-1887, businessman. Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts.  U.S. Senator.  Served in Congress 1863-1872, and U.S. Senate May 1874-March 1875.  Voted for the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


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.  

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868,

WASHBURN, William Barrett, senator, born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, 31 January, 1820; died in Springfield, Massachusetts, 5 October, 1887. He was graduated at Yale in 1844, and became a manufacturer at Greenfield, Massachusetts, where he was for many years president of the National bank, and which he represented in both branches of the legislature in 1850-'4. He was identified with the Republican party from its organization in 1856, and at the beginning of the civil war contributed liberally to the National cause. In 1862 he was sent to congress as a Republican, and he was returned biennially till on 1 January, 1872, he resigned his seat to become governor of Massachusetts. This office he resigned also during his third term to fill the vacancy that was made in the U. S. senate by the death of Charles Sumner, serving from 1 May, 1874, till 3 March, 1875, when he withdrew from public affairs. Besides holding many offices of trust under corporate societies, he was a trustee of Yale, of the Massachusetts agricultural college, and of Smith college, of which he was also a benefactor, and a member of the board of overseers of Amherst from 1864 till 1877. Harvard conferred the degree of LL. D. upon him in 1872. By his will he made the American board, the American home missionary society, and the American missionary association residuary legatees, leaving to each society about $50,000. He was also a great benefactor of the Greenfield public library. He died suddenly while attending a session of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions, of which he was a member. 

Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Volume VI, pp. 372.



WASHBURNE, Elihu Benjamin, 1816-1887, statesman, lawyer.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Congressman from December 1853 through march 1869.  Called “Father of the House.”  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


ELIHU B. WASHBURNE was born in Livermore, Maine, September 23, 1816. He served an apprenticeship as a printer in the office of " The Kennebec Journal," and studied law at Harvard University. Removing to Illinois he settled at Galena, in the practice of his profession. He was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-third Congress, and was eight times re-elected. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he became the " Father of the House" by reason of having served a longer continuous period than any other member, ne acted with the Republican party from its organization, voting always for freedom, from his vote against the Kansas bill to his vote for the Constitutional Amendment extending suffrage without distinction of color. He was Chairman of the Committee on Commerce in each Congress from the Thirty-fifth to the Thirty-ninth. At the death of Thaddeus Stevens, he became Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. He has been the distinguished champion of economy in the House, opposing every subsidy, and doing his best to expose, if he could not defeat, every game of plunder.

Perhaps his most distinguished service to the country is that of having been the first to bring the genius of General Grant to public notice and official recognition. Mr. Grant had resided several years at Galena before Mr. "Washburne knew him. The latter was then the leading man in his District, owned and resided in one of the most elegant residences in the city, while Grant was a clerk in his father's leather store, and occupied a little two-story cottage.

At the first war-meeting held at Galena to muster volunteers, "Washburne offered resolutions and managed the meeting, and Rawlings, made a speech. Grant was present, but took no conspicuous part. The first company raised elected one Chetlain captain. Jesse Grant's partner, Mr. Collins, a Peace Democrat, said t; Mr. Washburne, " A pretty set of fellows your soldiers are, to elect Chetlain for captain!" "Why not?" "They were foolish to take him when they could get such a than as Grant." "What is Grant's history?" "He was educated at West Point, served in the army eleven years, and came out with the very best reputation." Washburne immediately called upon Grant and invited him to go to Springfield. He did so, and was employed to assist in Governor Yates's office, and in mustering in regiments. Governor Yates at length appointed Grant colonel of a regiment, but he was indebted for his next promotion to Washburne. President Lincoln sent a circular to each of the Illinois Senators and Representatives, asking them to nominate four brigadiers. Washburne pressed the claims of Grant, on the ground that his section of the State had raised a good many men, and was entitled to a brigadier. Grant, Hurlburt, Prentiss, and McClernand were appointed. When Grant heard of his promotion he said, "It never came from any request of mine. It must be some of Washburne's work." In October, 1861, while Grant was in command at Cairo, Washburne made him a visit, and then for the first time became impressed that he was " the coming man " of the war.

After the battle of Fort Donelson, Grant no longer needed Washburne's kind offices to secure his promotion. Nevertheless, Washburne found frequent opportunities to give his influence and arguments in refutation of unjust criticisms of Grant's soldierly qualities. He framed the bill to revive the grade of Lieutenant-General which had been previously conferred only on Washington, and was an efficient leader in every movement to further Grant's progress toward the chief command of the armies.

Upon General Grant's accession to the Presidency he appointed Mr. Washburne Secretary of State. He held this office but a few days, however, when he was appointed United States Minister to France.

Mr. Washburne is a man of marked peculiarities—vigorous in body, duff in manner, vehement in oratory, making no display of learning nor show of profundity in argument, carrying his point rather by strong blows than by rhetorical art.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.

His early sponsorship of Grant continued through the campaign of 1868, when Grant heard the news of his election over telegraph wires run to Washburne's library in Galena. His stanch support was rewarded by appointment as secretary of state in Grant's cabinet, a post which he assumed March 5, 1869, resigned March 10, and vacated March 16. It is probable that this was a courtesy appointment preliminary to his designation, March 17, as minister to France, and designed to give him prestige in the French capital. His connection with the Grant administration remained close and he and Grant were friends until the spring of 1880, when an abortive boom for Washburne ran foul of Grant's own futile aspirations for a third term. Washburne himself immediately adhered to Grant's candidacy, though apparently without great enthusiasm, and remained at least outwardly loyal to his former chief. During the convention he himself received as many as forty-four votes, and it was later contended by his friends that with Grant's support he r:ould have received the nomination which went to Garfield. Be that as it may, Grant vented his disappointment on Washburne and the two never met again.

Meantime he had rendered capable service through very trying times in Europe. As minister to France he witnessed the downfall of the empire of the third Napoleon and, remaining until the autumn of 1877, rounded out the longest term of any American minister to France down to that time. He was the only official representative of a foreign government to remain in Paris throughout the siege and the Commune, and his two volumes of memoirs, Recollections of a Minister to France, 1869-1877 (1887), constitute a valuable account of those exciting days. In addition to his service to his own country, during the war he made himself useful by looking after the interests of German residents of France. On his retirement from public. life he devoted himself to historical and literary activities, serving as president of the Chicago Historical Society from 1884 to 1887 and publisi1ing, in addition to the Recollections of a Minister, several works of some historical value, particularly sketches of early Illinois political figures, pre-pared for the Chicago Historical Society. For the same society he edited "The Edwards Papers" (Collections, volume III, 1884), a selection from the manuscripts of Governor Ninian Edwards [ q.v.] of Illinois.

Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Volume 10, Pt. 1, p. 504



WEBSTER, Edwin Hanson, Union officer, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, elected as a candidate of the American Party to the Thirty-sixth Congress, as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress and as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses and served from March 4, 1859, until his resignation in July 1865. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  


WEBSTER, EDWIN HANSON, was a Representative from Maryland; born near Churchville, Harford County, Maryland, March 31, 1829; received a classical training; attended the Churchville (Maryland) Academy and the New London Academy, Chester County, Pennsylvania, and was graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1847; taught school; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1851 and commenced practice in Bel Air, Harford County, Maryland; member of the State senate 1855-1859; during the Civil War was colonel of the Seventh Regiment, Maryland Volunteer Infantry, and served in 1862 and 1863; elected as a candidate of the American Party to the Thirty-sixth Congress, as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress and as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses and served from March 4, 1859, until his resignation in July 1865 when he was appointed collector of customs at the port of Baltimore, and served from July 27, 1865, to April 15, 1869; resumed the practice of his profession in Bel Air; was again appointed by President Arthur, on February 17, 1882, and served until February 23, 1886; in 1882 he engaged in banking, which he followed until his death; died in Bel Air, Maryland, April 24, 1893; interment in Calvary Cemetery, near Churchville, Maryland.  

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



WHALEY, Kellian V.  Union officer, member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was an active opponent of secession in 1860, and as such was elected a Representative in the Thirty-Seventh Congress. He was reelected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


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 reelected to the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Congresses. His successor in the Fortieth Congress is Daniel Polsley.  

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868.



WHEELER, Ezra, Lawyer, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


WHEELER, EZRA, was a Representative from Wisconsin; born in Chenango County, New York, December 23, 1820; received a liberal preparatory schooling and was graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1842; moved to Berlin, Green Lake County, Wisconsin, in 1849; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Berlin, Wisconsin; member of the State assembly in 1853; judge of Green Lake County 1854-1862; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); resumed the practice of law in Berlin, Wisconsin; on account of ill health, moved to Pueblo, Colorado, in 1870; appointed register of the land office at Pueblo on June 27, 1871, and served until his death in that city on September 19, 1871; interment in Oakwood Cemetery, Berlin, Wisconsin.  

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



WILDER, Abel Carter,  Union army officer, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1864, 1868, and 1872; voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.


WILDER, ABEL CARTER, a Representative from Kansas; born in Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts, March 18, 1828; completed preparatory studies; engaged in mercantile pursuits; moved to Rochester, New York, and continued mercantile pursuits; moved to Leavenworth, Kans., in 1857 and again engaged in mercantile pursuits; delegate to the Osawatomie convention in 1859; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860 and elected its chairman; served as a captain in the Kansas brigade for one year in the Civil War; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1864, 1868, and 1872; returned to Rochester, New York, in 1865 and published the Morning and Evening Express until 1868, when he retired from active business pursuits; elected mayor of Rochester in 1872, but resigned in 1873; died in San Francisco, California, December 22, 1875, while there for his health; interment in Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester, New York. 

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



WILLIAMS, Thomas, 1806-1872, lawyer.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.  Served as Congressman from December 1863 through 1869.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.   


THOMAS WILLIAMS was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1806. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1825, and proceeding at once to the study of law, was admitted to the Pittsburg bar in 1828. Mr. Williams soon distinguished himself as an advocate, and rapidly rose to a high position in his profession. Nor did he confine himself strictly to the dry details of law business, but was, meanwhile, a diligent student of the belles-lettres, and early attained much proficiency as a writer and public speaker, his eloquence soon securing to him a high degree of favor among the people. Scarcely, therefore, was he fairly launched in his professional career, when he was called to supply a vacancy for the Pittsburg District in the State Senate, to which he was elected in 1838. His first appearance in the Senate was on the occasion of the public disturbance at the capital, which resulted in what has since been known as the " Buckshot War."

In his place in the State Senate, Mr. Williams at once participated actively in the debates of that body, and his reputation as a speaker soon became co-extensive with the State itself. He was re-elected in the following year, and served in the Senate with his usual activity, while outside, he took a leading part in the exciting canvass which resulted in elevating General Harrison to the Presidency. On the sudden and lamented death of the President, he, by the unanimous appointment of the two Houses of the Legislature, delivered before that body a funeral euloginm, passages of which, from their eloquence, became subjects of school declamation throughout the country.

Retiring from the State Senate, Mr. "Williams actively resumed the labors of his profession, and soon achieved a leading position at the bar of the State, and from this time during several years, ho forbore taking any active part in political affairs. At the inauguration of the Republican party, he accepted the position of delegate at large to the Philadelphia Convention of 1856, by which he was appointed a member of the National Executive Committee for his own State, and participated actively in the canvass which followed in several of the adjoining States as well as his own. In

1860 we again find Mr. "Williams in the State Legislature, actively engaging, meantime, in the great and decisive campaign which brought Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency. In 1862 he was elected to the Congress of the United States; to which he was re-elected for a second and third term, and by largely increased majorities. In the House of Representatives his well-established reputation as a lawyer, joined with the expressed wishes of his colleagues, resulted in his being placed on the Judiciary Committee, where he continued to serve during his Congressional career. He distinguished himself as a Representative by the authorship and defence of some of the most important measures presented to the House, and held the reputation of being one of the strongest lawyers of the body. Among his many able speeches was his effort as one of the managers on the trial of President Johnson, which was pronounced by the best judges as "equal to anything delivered on that, or any other like occasion in the history of the country." During the Fortieth Congress he was an efficient supporter of the policy of his party for the Reconstruction of the rebellious States.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



WILSON, James Falconer, born 1828-1895, lawyer.  Ohio State Senator.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Elected to the federal House of Representatives to fill a vacancy in December 1861, he was reelected as a Republican and served until March 3, 1869. In the days of war and reconstruction he had a conspicuous and determining part in the congressional policies. He used fully his strategic position as chairman of the judiciary committee to forward abolition and the Union program. War measures that he fathered included the article prohibiting the use of troops in the return of fugitive slaves, enfranchisement of negroes in the District of Columbia, and the tax on state bank circulation; he introduced the original resolution for an abolition Amendment. 


JAMES F. WILSON was born in Newark, Ohio, October 19, 1828. He entered upon the profession of law, and removed to Iowa in 1853. In 1856 he was elected a member of the Iowa Constitutional Convention. In 1857 he was elected a Representative, and in 1859 a Senator, in the State Legislature. In 1861 he was President of the Iowa Senate. In that year he was elected a Representative from Iowa to fill a vacancy in the Thirty-Seventh Congress. He was re-elected to the Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868, pp. 31, 51, 220, 237, 239, 288, 294, 325, 536.

WILSON, JAMES FALCONER (October 19, 1828-April 22, 1895), lawyer, representative in Congress, United States senator, popularly known as "Jefferson Jim" to distinguish him from his fellow Iowan, "Tama Jim" (James T. Wilson [q.v.], secretary of agriculture under McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Taft), was born at Newark, Ohio. His father, David S. Wilson, a contractor and builder, was of Scotch ancestry and a native of Morgantown, Virginia (now West Virginia); his mother was Kitty Ann (Bramble) of Chillicothe, Ohio. Left fatherless at ten, James aided in the support of the mother and two younger children by serving as apprentice to a harness maker. With brief intervals of school attendance and the personal instruction of sympathetic teachers and ministers he secured what he later termed a "thorough education." While working at his trade he began reading law, and, completing his study under the direction of William Burnham Woods [q.v.], later a justice of the United States Supreme Court, was admitted to the bar in 1851. On May 25, 1852, he married Mary Jewett, and the couple went to Fairfield, Iowa, where they established their home; two sons and a daughter were born to them.

The young lawyer soon took a foremost place on the local circuit but was drawn more and more into politics. Editorials for the local organ gave him standing and offices came in continuous succession. He was one of the most influential delegates in the constitutional convention of 1857, and the same year was appointed to the Des Moines River improvement commission and elected to the state House of Representatives, where he served as chairman of the ways and means committee. Promoted to the state Senate in 1859, he aided in the revision of the state code, published in 1860, and in the special war session of 1861 was named president pro tempore.

Elected to the federal House of Representatives to fill a vacancy in December 1861, he was reelected as a Republican and served until March 3, 1869. In the days of war and reconstruction he had a conspicuous and determining part in the congressional policies. He used fully his strategic position as chairman of the judiciary committee to forward abolition and the Union program. War measures that he fathered included the article prohibiting the use of troops in the return of fugitive slaves, enfranchisement of negroes in the District of Columbia, and the tax on state bank circulation; he introduced the original resolution for an abolition Amendment. During the turmoil of Reconstruction he was one of the ablest leaders among the legalistic Radicals. On every possible occasion he upheld the constitutional prerogatives of Congress. He introduced important amendments to the resolution for repudiation of the Confederate debt, introduced the amendment repealing appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under the Habeas Corpus Act of 1867, gave the final form to the Civil Rights Act, and served on the conference committee on tenure of office. He voted with the minority of his committee against the origin.al impeachment charges in 1867, giving an elaborate argument that was sustained by the House; but in view of a definite case of wilful violation of statutes, as it appeared to his legalistic mind, he became committed to the President's removal. His selection as a member of the committee to formulate the articles and as a trial manager was a recognition of the more moderate element of the Radical wing. His service at the trial consisted in constitutional arguments, most notably on the responsibility of the executive to abide bv acts of Congress regardless of his opinion as to their validity.

In 1869 Grant persuaded Wilson to accept the state portfolio. Misunderstandings over the activities of Elihu B. Washburne [q.v.], to whom the office had been granted temporarily to pay another personal debt, caused Wilson to withdraw his acceptance. On two subsequent occasions the invitation to enter the Grant official family was unavailingly renewed. While by no means indifferent to the political scene, he now devoted himself mainly to his profession. A prominent interest of these years and the one that was to bring the main attack upon his record was promotion of the Pacific railroad. In Congress he had been a zealous supporter of this enterprise and in 1868 had shown his confidence in it by profitable though moderate speculation in the stock of the construction company. For six years under Grant and one under Hayes he was a government director of the road. These connections brought him rather prominently into the House investigations of 1873. In the first of these he frankly admitted having secured stock as an investment and regretted that he was unable to secure more. Before the second, he emphatically denied the charge by an ex-official that he had received a check for $19,000 out of a fund for "special legal expenses," and no substantiating proof that he had was offered. The resulting attacks on him by hos tile journals apparently did not weaken him in Iowa. Probably the bulk of his constituents agreed with his view that his contribution to this great national enterprise had been praiseworthy and public-spirited.

While mentioned for the Senate from 1866 on his real opportunity did not come until 1882, when all of the other aspirants withdrew; he was reelected in 1888 without organized opposition. In brilliance and specific achievement his senatorial service fell far below that which he had rendered in the House. He was laborious on committees and helped to frame the original Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and other measures, but he was clearly in the rank of the "elder statesmen." His health was steadily failing; he was definitely committed to retirement at the close of his second term, and, as it happened, died, at Fairfield, Iowa, within a few weeks of the close of the session. There was lacking, too, a cause to which he could devote himself as he had to anti-slavery. Prohibition was the only substitute. A zealous personal teetotaler, he belonged to the group that sought to commit the Republican party to temperance reform. In 1890 he secured the passage of the Original Package Act, which at the time was regarded as a great triumph for state control of the liquor traffic.

 Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Volume 10, Pt. 2, pp. 331-333.



WINDOM, William, 1827-1891, lawyer.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Served in U.S. Congress 1859-1869, U.S. Senate, 1870-1877.    


WILLIAM WINDOM was born in Belmont County, Ohio, May 10, 1827. He received an academical education, and studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and was soon after elected Prosecuting Attorney for Knox County, Ohio. In 1853 he removed to Minnesota, and settled in Winona. In 1858 he was elected a Representative from Minnesota to the Thirty-Sixth Congress, and was reelected to the Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, and Fortieth Congresses.

History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868, p. 229.

WINDOM, WILLIAM (May 10, 1827-January 29, 1891), representative and senator from Minnesota, secretary of the treasury, was the son of Hezekiah and Mercy(Spencer) Windom, Quaker offspring of pioneer settlers in Ohio. Born in Belmont County, in that state, he moved with his family in 1837 to Knox County, a still newer frontier. The boy made up his mind to become a lawyer, to the distress of his parents, who, however, aided him as he worked his way through Martinsburg Academy and then read law with Judge R. C. Hurd of Mount Vernon. There, admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-three, he began practice, entered politics, and was elected public prosecutor as a Whig.

After a few years he determined to try his fortune in Minnesota Territory, and in 1855 settled in Winona. Becoming a member of the firm of Sargent, Wilson & Windom, he practised law, dabbled in real estate, and was elected to Congress as a Republican, when the state was admitted in 1858. His service in the House lasted until 1869. He was a member of the Committee of Thirty-Three, a supporter and friend of Lincoln, and in the contest between Johnson and the Radicals, allied himself with the latter. For two term she was chairman of the committee on Indian affairs; he headed a special committee to visit the Indian tribes in 1865 and also a committee to investigate the conduct of the Indian commissioner in 1867. After the Sioux outbreak he was one of the signers of the memorial urging the President to have all the captured Indians hanged. While generally fair in his attitude towards Indians, he always considered the Sioux beyond the pale.

Windom sought a senatorial position in 1865, but it was not until 1870 that he reached the Senate, being appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of D. S. Norton. In the following session the legislature elected another for the remaining weeks of Norton's term, but chose Windom for the full term from 1871 to 1877. He was reelected in 1877, resigned in 1881 to become secretary of the treasury (March 8-November 14), and then, after Garfield's death, was again selected to complete his own term. His most notable service in the Senate was probably his chairmanship of the special committee on transportation routes to the seaboard, which submitted a two-volume report (Senate Report, 307, 43 Congress, I Session) advocating competitive routes under government al control, development of waterways, and the establishment of a bureau to collect and publish facts. Both in the House and in the Senate he urged a liberal policy towards railroads, and he was a supporter of homestead legislation. A strong nationalist, he declared, February 28, 1881, when the Panama canal project was being pushed by a French company, that "under no circumstances [should] a foreign government, or a company chartered by a foreign government, have control over an isthmian highway" (Congressional Record, 46 Congress, 3 Session, p. 2212). From 1876 to 1881 he was chairman of the committee on appropriations, and after 1881 chairman of the committee on foreign relations.

In the Republican National Convention of 1880 Windom's name was brought forward by the Minnesota delegation, which supported him faithfully until the stampede to Garfield. As Garfield's second choice for secretary of the treasury, opposed vigorously by James G. Blaine for the place, Windom obtained high commendation for his successful refunding of over $600,000,000 in bonds at a lower interest rate and without specific legal authorization. The secretaryship made no real break in his senatorial career and he confidently expected to be reelected in 1883, but a combination of circumstances--notably his mistake in opposing the renomination of Mark Hill Dunnell for Congress, since he feared Dunnell had an eye on his own seat, dashed his hopes ("Benjamin Back number," in the Daily News, St. Paul, January 23, 1921). His chagrin was such that after a year's vacation in Europe he took up his residence in the East and never returned to Minnesota. For six years Windom was out of office, devoting himself to the law and his considerable holdings in real estate and railroad securities. In 1889 he was again called to the treasury department and held the secretaryship until his death, which occurred suddenly at Delmonico's, New York, after he had delivered an address to the New York Board of Trade and Transportation. His tenure was marked by no especially significant features, although an unstable economic situation, aggravated by monetary disturbance, made his position both important and delicate.

A high-tariff man and generally an advocate of sound money, although he was a believer in international bimetalism and had voted for the Bland-Allison Act of 1878, Windom stood out from the rank and file of his Western contemporaries and hence, for the most part, was looked upon as safe by conservative Eastern Republicans. No scandal ever attached to his name in a period when too many of his contemporaries had to defend reputations not altogether invulnerable (C. T. Murray in Philadelphia Times, reprinted in Daily Pioneer Press, June 2, 1880). On August 20, 1856, Windom married Ellen Towne Hatch of Warwick, Massachusetts, who survived him, with a son and two daughters.

Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Volume 10, Pt. 2, pp. 383-384.



WOODBRIDGE, Frederick Enoch, 1819-1888, lawyer.  Vermont State Senator.  Republican Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont.  Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.  Served in U.S. Congress December 1863 to March 1869


FREDERICK E. WOODBRIDGE was born in Vergennes, Vermont, August 29, 1818. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont, of the class of 1840. He studied law with his father, Hon. E. D. Woodbridge, and came to the bar in 1842. In 1849 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and was also a member of that body in 1857 and 1858. Daring three years ending with 1852 he was State auditor. He was prosecuting-attorney for five years ending with 1858, and was many times chosen mayor of the city of Vergennes. Meanwhile he was, for several years, vice-president and the active manager of the Rutland and Washington Railroad. He was a member of the Vermont Senate during the years 1860 and 1861, in the latter year being president pro tem, of that body.

In 1863 Mr. "Woodbridge was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress from Vermont, and served on the House Judiciary Committee. In the Thirty-ninth Congress to which he was elected he was placed on the Committee on the Judiciary, and also on that on Private Land Claims. He was a member of the Philadelphia " Loyalist's Convention" of 1866, and in the same year was elected to the Fortieth Congress. Here he was again on the Judiciary Committee, the Committee on Private Land Claims, and on the Joint Committee, on the Committee to revise and fix the pay of Congressional officials, of which he was chairman on the part of the House.

Among the speeches of Mr. Woodbridge during the Fortieth Congress were those relating to the Impeachment of President Johnson, a measure which he decidedly favored—on the bill relating to the rights of American citizens abroad—on the admission of North Carolina—and on the purchase of Alaska.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volume 2, 1869.



WORTHINGTON, Henry Gaither, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Moved to Nevada in 1862 and settled in Austin; upon the admission of Nevada as a State into the Union was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from October 31, 1864, to March 3, 1865. Voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery.    


WORTHINGTON, HENRY GAITHER, a Representative from Nevada; born in Cumberland, Maryland, February 9, 1828; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Tuolumne County, California; traveled in Central America and Mexico and upon his return settled in San Francisco, California; member of the State house of representatives in 1861; moved to Nevada in 1862 and settled in Austin; upon the admission of Nevada as a State into the Union was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from October 31, 1864, to March 3, 1865; collector of the port of Charleston, S.C.; served as United States Minister to Uruguay and the Argentine Republic in 1868 and 1869 by appointment of President Andrew Johnson; United States district judge; major general of militia; defeated by two votes for election to the United States Senate; served as a pallbearer at the funeral of President Abraham Lincoln; died in Washington, D.C., July 29, 1909; interment in Congressional Cemetery. 

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.



YEAMAN, George Helm,  born 1829, lawyer, jurist, diplomat, writer.  Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, voted for Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery. Elected to Congress 1862, served until March 1865.    


YEAMAN, GEORGE HELM, a Representative from Kentucky; born in Hardin County, Kentucky, November 1, 1829; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1852 and commenced practice in Owensboro, Kentucky; judge of Davis County in 1854; member of the State house of representatives in 1861; elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James S. Jackson; reelected to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from December 1, 1862, to March 3, 1865; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1864 to the Thirty-ninth Congress; United States Minister to Denmark 1865-1870; resigned in 1870 and settled in New York City; lecturer on constitutional law at Columbia College; president of the Medico-Legal Society of New York; died in Jersey City, New Jersey, February 23, 1908; interment in Webb Memorial Chapel, Madison, New Jersey. 

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present. 

YEAMAN, George Helm, lawyer, born in Hardin county, Kentucky, 1 November, 1829. He was educated at an academy, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and began to practise at Owensborough, Kentucky. In 1854 he was elected a judge of Daviess county. In 1861 he was chosen a member of the legislature, and in 1862 he recruited a regiment for the National army. The same year he was sent to congress as a Unionist to fill a vacancy, and, being re-elected, he served from 1 December, 1862, till 3 March, 1865. In the latter year he was appointed by President Johnson minister to Denmark, which office he held till 7 November, 1870, since which time he has practised law in New York. Besides pamphlets on “Naturalization” (1867) and “Privateering” (1868). Mr. Yeaman has published “A Study of Government” (Boston, 1870). He has also written for periodicals on the labor and currency questions.

Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Volume VI. pp. 639.



Sources:
History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States. By William H. Barnes, 1868.

The Fortieth Congress of the United States: historical and biographical. By William H. Barnes, Volumes 1-2, 1869.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present.