WHEELER, William Almon (1819-1887)

Republican of New York

19th congressional district

Served in House 1861-1863 , 1869-1877

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Biography

Representative from New York and a Vice President of the United States; born in Malone, Franklin County, N.Y., June 30, 1819; completed preparatory studies; attended the Franklin Academy at Malone and the University of Vermont at Burlington; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1845 and practiced in Malone, N.Y.; district attorney for Franklin County, N.Y., 1846-1849; member, State assembly 1850-1851; member, State senate 1858-1860; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863); chair, Committee on Expenditures in the War Department (Thirty-seventh Congress); delegate to the State constitutional conventions in 1867 and 1868; elected to the Forty-first and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1869-March 3, 1877); chair, Committee on Commerce (Forty-third Congress); was not a candidate for reelection to the Forty-fifth Congress, having been nominated in 1876 as the Republican candidate for Vice President; elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket with Rutherford Hayes in 1876; inaugurated in March 1877 and served until March 1881; retired from public life and active business pursuits because of ill health; died in Malone, N.Y., June 4, 1887; interment in Morningside Cemetery.
Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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