COX, Samuel Sullivan (1824-1889)

Democrat of New York

9th congressional district

Served in House 1857-1865 , 1869-1889

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Biography

Representative from Ohio and from New York; born in Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, September 30, 1824; attended the Ohio University, Athens, Ohio; graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.I., 1846; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Zanesville, Ohio, 1849; owner and editor of the Columbus (Ohio) Statesman in 1853 and 1854; secretary of the legation at Lima, Peru, in 1855; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1864 and 1868; elected as a Democrat from Ohio to the Thirty-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1865); chair, Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Thirty-fifth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Thirty-ninth Congress in 1864; moved to New York City on March 4, 1865, and resumed the practice of law; elected from New York to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses (March 4, 1869-March 3, 1873); unsuccessful candidate of the Democrats and Liberal Republicans for reelection in 1872 as Representative at large to the Forty-third Congress; subsequently elected to the Forty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative James Brooks; reelected to the Forty-fourth and to the five succeeding Congresses until his resignation on May 20, 1885 (November 4, 1873-May 20, 1885); chair, Committee on Banking and Currency (Forty-fourth Congress), Committee on the Census (Forty-sixth Congress), Committee on Foreign Affairs (Forty-sixth Congress), Committee on Naval Affairs (Forty-eighth Congress); appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Turkey by President Cleveland, May 21, 1885-October 22, 1886; was again elected to the Forty-ninth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative Joseph Pulitzer; reelected to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses (November 2, 1886-September 10, 1889); died on September 10, 1889, in New York City; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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