Alexander Hamilton COFFROTH, Congress, PA (1828-1906)

COFFROTH, Alexander Hamilton, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Somerset, Somerset County, Pa., May 18, 1828; attended the public schools and Somerset Academy; published a Democratic paper in Somerset for five years; studied law in the law office of Hon. Jeremiah S. Black; was admitted to the bar in February 1851 at Somerset, Pa., where he practiced his profession; delegate to several Democratic State conventions; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions which assembled in Charleston and Baltimore in 1860; an assessor of internal revenue in 1867; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); claimed reelection to the Thirty-ninth Congress; was seated on February 19, 1866, and served until July 18, 1866, when he was succeeded by William H. Koontz, who contested the election; elected to the Forty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1881); chairman, Committee on Invalid Pensions (Forty-sixth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1880; resumed the practice of law in Somerset, Pa.; he was the last surviving pallbearer who had served at the funeral of President Lincoln; died in Markleton, Somerset County, Pa., September 2, 1906; interment in Union Cemetery, Somerset, Pa.

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