WASHBURN, William Drew (1831-1912)
Republican of Minnesota 
0th congressional district
Served in Senate 1889-1895
Served in House 1879-1885
Biography
Representative and a Senator from Minnesota; born in Livermore, Androscoggin County, Maine, on January 14, 1831; attended the common schools and graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, in 1854; studied law in Bangor, Maine; admitted to the bar in 1857 and commenced practice in Minneapolis, Minn., where he had settled early in 1857; appointed as United States surveyor general of Minnesota by President Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865, residing in St. Paul while holding that office; unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1864; returned to Minneapolis and engaged in the newspaper, railway, milling, and waterpower businesses; several times a member of the State house of representatives; elected as a Republican to the Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, and Forty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1885); elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1895; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on the Improvement of the Mississippi River and its Tributaries (Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses); resumed manufacturing pursuits and also engaged in railroad building; died in Minneapolis, Minn., July 29, 1912; interment in Lakewood Cemetery.Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
