John Seashoal WITCHER, Congress, WV (1839-1906)

WITCHER, John Seashoal, a Representative from West Virginia; born in Cabell County, Va. (now West Virginia), July 15, 1839; attended the public schools; elected clerk of the circuit court of Cabell County in 1861; enrolled in the Union Army as a first lieutenant, Third Regiment, West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, December 13, 1862; promoted to captain September 8, 1863, major May 23, 1864, lieutenant colonel May 6, 1865; honorably mustered out June 30, 1865; member of the State house of delegates in 1865; secretary of state of West Virginia 1866-1869; elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress (March 4, 1869-March 3, 1871); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1870 to the Forty-second Congress; appointed by President Grant as collector of internal revenue for the third district of West Virginia and served from April 1, 1871, to October 1, 1876; served as United States pension agent at Washington, D.C., from July 7, 1878, to October 3, 1880; major and paymaster, United States Army, from October 5, 1880, until he retired September 8, 1899; moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1891, and died there July 8, 1906; interment in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

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