George Dionysius TILLMAN, Congress, SC (1826-1902)

TILLMAN, George Dionysius, (brother of Benjamin Ryan Tillman), a Representative from South Carolina; born near Curryton, Edgefield County, S.C., August 21, 1826; pursued an academic course in Penfield, Ga., and in Greenwood, S.C.; attended Harvard University, but did not graduate; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1848 and commenced practice in Edgefield, S.C.; member of the State house of representatives, 1854-1855 and 1864; enlisted during the Civil War and served in the Third Regiment of South Carolina State troops in 1862; shortly after its disbandment entered the Second Regiment of South Carolina Artillery, in which he served until the close of the war; again a member of the State house of representatives in 1864; member of the State constitutional convention in 1865, held under the reconstruction proclamation of President Johnson; served in the State senate in 1865; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1876 to the Forty-fifth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1881); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-seventh Congress and served from March 4, 1881, to June 19, 1882, when he was succeeded by Robert Smalls, who contested the election; elected to the Forty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1893); chairman, Committee on Patents (Fifty-second Congress); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1892; engaged in agricultural pursuits and also as a publicist; member of the State constitutional convention in 1895; unsuccessful candidate for election as Governor of South Carolina in 1898; died in Clarks Hill, McCormick County, S.C., February 2, 1902; interment in the Bethlehem Baptist Church Community Cemetery.

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