Alanson Bigelow HOUGHTON, Congress, NY (1863-1941)

1863-1941

HOUGHTON, Alanson Bigelow, (grandfather of Amory Houghton), a Representative from New York; born in Cambridge, Mass., October 10, 1863; moved to Corning, N.Y., with his parents in 1868; attended the public schools, Corning (N.Y.) Free Academy, and St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H.; was graduated from Harvard University in 1886; took postgraduate courses at Gottingen, Berlin, and Paris from 1886 to 1889; commenced the manufacture of glass at Corning, N.Y., in 1889; vice president of the Corning Glass Works from 1902 to 1910, when he was elected president of the company; president of the board of education of Corning; became trustee of Hobart College in 1917; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Congresses and served from March 4, 1919, to February 28, 1922, when he resigned, having been appointed on February 10, 1922, by President Harding, as Ambassador to Germany, in which capacity he served until April 6, 1925; appointed by President Coolidge as Ambassador to Great Britain on February 24, 1925, and served in that capacity until April 27, 1929; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1928; resumed his interests in the glass manufacturing industry; died at his summer home in South Dartmouth, Mass., September 15, 1941; interment in Hope Cemetery Annex, Corning, N.Y.

Bibliography

Matthews, Jeffrey J. Alanson B. Houghton: Ambassador in the New Era. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Inc., 2004.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present