Reuben Eaton FENTON, Congress, NY (1819-1885)

FENTON, Reuben Eaton, a Representative and a Senator from New York; born in Carroll, Chautauqua County, N.Y., on July 4, 1819; completed preparatory studies; studied law; engaged in mercantile pursuits; supervisor of Carroll 1846-1852; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854; elected to the Thirty-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1857, until his resignation, effective December 20, 1864, having been elected Governor of New York; Governor of New York 1865-1868; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1869, to March 3, 1875; chairman, Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses (Forty-second Congress), Committee on Manufactures (Forty-second Congress), Committee on Territories (Forty-second Congress); appointed chairman of the United States commission to the International Monetary Conference held at Paris in 1878; engaged in banking; died in Jamestown, N.Y., on August 25, 1885; interment in Lakeview Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; McMahon, Helen. “Reuben Eaton Fenton.” Masters’ thesis, Cornell University, 1939.

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