Alexander Samuel DIVEN, Congress, NY (1809-1896)

DIVEN, Alexander Samuel, a Representative from New York; born in Catharine (later Watkins), N.Y., February 10, 1809; attended the common schools and the academies in Penn Yan and Ovid, N.Y.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1831 and commenced practice in Elmira; member of the State senate in 1858; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863); was not a candidate for renomination in 1862; entered the Army on August 13, 1862, as lieutenant colonel of the One Hundred and Seventh Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry; promoted to colonel on October 21, 1862; was granted leave of absence from the Army for ninety days to take his seat in Congress; honorably discharged as colonel May 11, 1863; brevetted brigadier general of Volunteers April 30, 1864; engaged in railroad building and operation 1865-1875; prominently identified with the Erie Railroad; died in Elmira, Chemung County, N.Y., June 11, 1896; interment in Woodlawn Cemetery.

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