John Wesley LONGYEAR, Congress, MI (1820-1875)

LONGYEAR, John Wesley, a Representative from Michigan; born in Shandaken, Ulster County, N.Y., October 22, 1820; pursued classical studies in the Lima (N.Y.) Academy; taught school for several years; moved to Mason, Ingham County, Mich., in 1844 and taught school; studied law; was admitted to the Ingham County bar in 1846; moved to Lansing, Mich., in 1847 and engaged in the practice of law; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1867); chairman, Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings (Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination in 1866; delegate to the Loyalist Convention at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1866 and to the Michigan State constitutional convention in 1867; appointed by President Grant judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan February 7, 1870; moved to Detroit in 1871, where he died March 11, 1875; interment in Mount Hope Cemetery, Lansing, Mich.

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