Garret Dorset WALL, Congress, NJ (1783-1850)

WALL, Garret Dorset, (father of James Walter Wall), a Senator from New Jersey; born in Middletown, N.J., March 10, 1783; completed preparatory studies; studied law; licensed as an attorney in 1804 and as a counselor in 1807 and commenced practice in Burlington, N.J.; served in the War of 1812 and commanded a volunteer regiment from Trenton; clerk of the State supreme court 1812-1817; quartermaster general of the State 1815-1837; member, State general assembly 1827; United States district attorney for New Jersey in 1829; elected Governor of New Jersey in 1829, but declined to serve; elected as a Jacksonian (later Democrat) to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1841; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on the Militia (Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses), Committee on the Judiciary (Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Military Affairs (Twenty-fifth Congress); judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey from 1848 until his death in Burlington, N.J., November 22, 1850; interment in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Church.

Bibliography

Proceedings of the Bench and Bar of New Jersey on the Death of the Hon. Garret D. Wall. Burlington, N.J.: S.C. Atkinson, 1851.

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