Edward Waterman TOWNSEND, Congress, NJ (1855-1942)

TOWNSEND, Edward Waterman, a Representative from New Jersey; born in Cleveland, Ohio, February 10, 1855; attended private and public schools in that city; went to San Francisco, Calif., in 1875 and engaged in newspaper and literary work; moved to New York City in 1893 and continued his reportorial and literary pursuits; in 1900 became a resident of Montclair, Essex County, N.J.; author of novels, plays, short stories, as well as a textbook on the Constitution of the United States; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second and Sixty-third Congresses (March 4, 1911-March 3, 1915); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1914 to the Sixty-fourth Congress; served as postmaster of Montclair, N.J., 1915-1923; moved to New York City in 1924 and resumed newspaper and literary pursuits; member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters; died in New York City March 15, 1942; interment in Forest Hills Cemetery, Utica, N.Y.

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