William Farrand PROSSER, Congress, TN (1834-1911)

PROSSER, William Farrand, a Representative from Tennessee; born in Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pa., on March 16, 1834; received a limited schooling; taught school; studied law but never practiced; moved to California in 1854; engaged in mining; returned to Pennsylvania in 1861; entered the Union Army November 30, 1861, promoted through the ranks to colonel, and served throughout the Civil War; after the war settled on a farm near Nashville, Tenn.; elected to the State house of representatives, 1867-1869; 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; postmaster of Nashville 1872-1875; a director of the Tennessee, Edgefield & Kentucky Railroad; appointed in 1872 as one of the State commissioners to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 and sent on a special mission in 1873 to assist in arranging participation of European countries in the exposition; published the Nashville Republican for several years; appointed by President Hayes in 1879 as special agent of the Interior Department for Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and moved to Washington in the same year; delegate to the first State constitutional convention of Washington; chairman of the State harbor line commission; mayor of North Yakima; city treasurer of Seattle 1908-1910; died in Seattle, Wash., September 23, 1911; interment in Lakeview Cemetery.

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