Arphaxed LOOMIS, Congress, NY (1798-1885)

LOOMIS, Arphaxed, a Representative from New York; born in Winsted, Conn., April 9, 1798; moved to New York in 1801 with his parents, who settled upon a farm in the town of Salisbury, Herkimer County; attended the common schools and Fairfield Academy, Fairfield, N.Y.; studied law; was admitted to the bar at Albany in 1822 and commenced practice at Sackets Harbor, N.Y., the same year; returned to Salisbury in 1825; later in that year moved to Little Falls, N.Y., and continued the practice of his profession; surrogate of Herkimer County 1828-1836; commissioner to investigate the State prisons in 1834; county judge of Herkimer County 1835-1840; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-Fifth Congress (March 4, 1837-March 3, 1839); chairman, Committee on Patents (Twenty-fifth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1838; member of the State assembly in 1841 and 1842; member of the State constitutional convention in 1846; member of the commission to revise, abridge, and simplify pleadings and proceedings in civil actions in 1847; again a member of the State assembly in 1853 and 1854; delegate to the Democratic State conventions in 1861 and 1863; died at Little Falls, N.Y., September 15, 1885; interment in the Church Street Cemetery.

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