Adlai Ewing STEVENSON, Congress, IL (1835-1914)

STEVENSON, Adlai Ewing, (great-grandfather of Adlai Ewing Stevenson III), a Representative from Illinois and a Vice President of the United States; born in Christian County, Ky., October 23, 1835; moved with his parents to Bloomington, Ill., in 1852; attended Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington and Centre College, Danville, Ky., studied law; admitted to the bar in 1858 and commenced practice in Metamora, Woodford County, Ill.; master in chancery 1860-1864; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1864; district attorney 1865-1868; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1877); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1876 to the Forty-fifth Congress; elected to the Forty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1881); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress; First Assistant Postmaster General 1885-1889; elected Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket headed by Grover Cleveland in 1892; was inaugurated March 4, 1893, and served until March 3, 1897; was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States in 1900 and for governor of Illinois in 1908; retired from public and political activities and resided in Bloomington, Ill.; died in Chicago, Ill., June 14, 1914; interment in Bloomington Cemetery, Bloomington, Ill.

Bibliography

Baker, Jean H. The Stevensons: A Biography of an American Family. New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1996.

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