Charles Arnette TOWNE, Congress, NY (1858-1928)

TOWNE, Charles Arnette, a Representative and a Senator from Minnesota and a Representative from New York; born near Pontiac, Oakland County, Mich., on November 21, 1858; attended the common schools; graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1881; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1885 and commenced practice in Marquette, Mich.; moved to Duluth, Minn., in 1890 and continued the practice of law; judge advocate general of Minnesota 1893-1895; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1897); unsuccessful independent candidate for reelection in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth Congress and for election in 1898 to the Fifty-sixth Congress; declined the nomination for Vice President of the United States by the national conventions of the Populist and Silver Republican Parties in 1900; appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Cushman K. Davis and served from December 5, 1900, to January 28, 1901, when a successor was elected and qualified; moved to New York City in 1901 and resumed the practice of law; elected as a Democrat from New York to the Fifty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1905-March 3, 1907); died in Tucson, Ariz., October 22, 1928; interment in Evergreen Cemetery, Tucson, Ariz.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Schlup, Leonard. “Charles A. Towne and the Vice-Presidential Question of 1900.” North Dakota History 44 (Winter 1977): 14-20.

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