People Who Served in Congress
Sketches of famous and not-so-famous Senators and Representatives

William Morris Stewart (1827-1909) The first of 21 senators who have changed parties since 1890. A Senator from Nevada; born in Galen, near Lyons, Wayne County, N.Y., August 9, 1827; moved with his parents to Mesopotamia Township, Trumbull County, Ohio; attended Lyons Union School and West Farmington Academy; teacher of mathematics at Lyons Union School; attended Yale College 1849-1850; moved to San Francisco, Calif., in 1850 and engaged in gold mining in Nevada County; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1852 and commenced practice in Nevada City, Calif.; district attorney 1852; attorney general of California 1854; moved to Virginia City, Nev., in 1860; involved in early mining litigation and in the development of the Comstock lode; member, Territorial council 1861; member of the State constitutional convention in 1863; upon the admission of Nevada as a State into the Union was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1864; took oath of office on February 1, 1865; reelected in 1869, and served until March 3, 1875; did not seek reelection; chairman, Committee on Pacific Railroads (Forty-second Congress), Committee on Railroads (Forty-third Congress); resumed the practice of law in Nevada and California; again elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1887; reelected in 1893 and 1899, as a Silver Republican, and served from March 4, 1887, to March 3, 1905; chairman, Committee on Mines and Mining (Fiftieth through Fifty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Indian Affairs (Fifty-seventh and Fifty-eighth Congresses); declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1905; died in Washington, D.C., April 23, 1909; remains were cremated and the ashes deposited in Laurel Hill Cemetery, San Francisco, Calif.; remains removed and deposited in unknown location.

Sources:

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress:  http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000922

U.S. Senate web site:
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/senators_changed_parties.htm#1

African-Americans in Congress:  Josiah Thomas Walls (1842-1905).  A Representative from Florida; born in Winchester, Frederick County, Va., December 30, 1842; received a limited schooling; engaged in truck farming; moved to Florida; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1868; served in the State senate 1869-1872; presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-second Congress and served from March 4, 1871, to January 29, 1873, when he was succeeded by Silas L. Niblack, who contested his election; elected as a Republican to the Forty-third Congress (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1875); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-fourth Congress and served from March 4, 1875, to April 19, 1876, when he was succeeded by Jesse J. Finley, who contested his election; resumed his occupation as truck farmer; died in Tallahassee, Fla., May 15, 1905; interment in the Negro Cemetery.

Sources:
 
Black Americans in Congress:   http://baic.house.gov/member-profiles/profile.html?intID=17 

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress:  http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000093 

Women in Congress:  Pearl Oldfield (1876-1962).  (wife of William Allan Oldfield), a Representative from Arkansas; born in Cotton Plant, Woodruff County, Ark., on December 2, 1876; educated in the public schools and at Arkansas College, Batesville, Ark.; elected January 9, 1929, as a Democrat to fill the vacancy in both the Seventieth and Seventy-first Congresses caused by the death of her husband William A. Oldfield, who had been reelected in 1928, and served from January 9, 1929, to March 3, 1931; was not a candidate for renomination in 1930; died in Washington, D.C., April 12, 1962; interment in Oaklawn Cemetery, Batesville, Ark. During her tenure, Oldfield sought to remedy the threats that natural disaster and economic depression posed to the welfare of her rural Arkansas constituents. She left Congress after little more than one term, content to retire “to the sphere in which I believe women belong—the home.”

Sources:

Women in Congress:   http://womenincongress.house.gov/profiles/index.html 

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress:  http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=O000061  

Congress Definied
Words and phrases that describe congressional processes

Hold at the Desk. Each House sometimes orders a measure received from the other to be “held at the desk” rather than referred to a committee or placed on a calendar. A measure being held at the desk is available to be called up for consideration by unanimous consent, especially for purposes of accomplishing a “hookup” with a measure of the receiving chamber in preparation for going to conference.

Source: 

Congressional Quarterly’s American Congressional Dictionary, 3rd edition (2001):116.