George Franklin EDMUNDS, Congress, VT (1828-1919)

EDMUNDS, George Franklin, a Senator from Vermont; born in Richmond, Chittenden County, Vt., February 1, 1828; attended the common schools and was privately tutored; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1849 and commenced practice in Burlington, Vt.; member, State house of representatives 1854-1859, serving three years as speaker; member, State senate, serving as its presiding officer in 1861 and 1862; appointed on April 3, 1866, and elected on October 24, 1866, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Solomon Foote; reelected in 1868, 1874, 1880, and 1886 and served from April 3, 1866, until his resignation, effective November 1, 1891; President pro tempore of the Senate (Forty-seventh and Forty-eight Congresses); chairman, Republican Conference (Forty-ninth to Fifty-first Congresses), Committee on Pensions (Forty-first and Forty-second Congresses), Committee on the Judiciary (Forty-second to Forty-fifth Congresses, and Forty-seventh to Fifty-first Congresses), Committee on Private Land Claims (Forty-sixth Congress), Committee on Foreign Relations (Forty-seventh Congress); appointed a member of the Electoral Commission to decide the contests in various States in the presidential election of 1876; resumed the practice of law in Philadelphia, Pa.; subsequently moved to Pasadena, Calif., where he died February 27, 1919; interment in Green Mount Cemetery, Burlington, Vt.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Adler, Selig. “The Senatorial Career of George Franklin Edmunds, 1866-1891.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, 1934; Welch, Richard E., Jr. “George Edmunds of Vermont: Republican Half-Breed.” Vermont History 36 (Spring 1968): 64-73.

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