Aaron Harrison CRAGIN, Congress, NH (1821-1898)

CRAGIN, Aaron Harrison, a Representative and a Senator from New Hampshire; born in Weston, Windsor County, Vt., February 3, 1821; completed preparatory studies; studied law; admitted to the bar in Albany, N.Y., in 1847 and commenced practice in Lebanon, N.H.; member, New Hampshire house of representatives 1852-1855; elected by the American Party to the Thirty-fourth Congress and as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1859); chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War (Thirty-fourth Congress); resumed the practice of law; member, State house of representatives 1859; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1864; reelected in 1870 and served from March 4, 1865, to March 3, 1877; chairman, Committee on Engrossed Bills (Thirty-ninth Congress), Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense (Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses), Committee on Naval Affairs (Forty-first and Forty-third Congresses), Committee on Railroads (Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses); appointed by President Rutherford Hayes as one of the commissioners for the purchase of the Hot Springs Reservation in Arkansas and served as chairman 1877-1879; died in Washington, D.C., May 10, 1898; interment in School Street Cemetery, Lebanon, N.H.

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