George Washington SMITH, Congress, IL (1846-1907)

SMITH, George Washington, a Representative from Illinois; born in Putnam County, Ohio, August 18, 1846; moved with his father to Wayne County, Ill., in 1850; learned the blacksmith trade; attended the common schools and was graduated from the literary department of McKendree College, Lebanon, Ill., in 1868; studied law in Fairfield, Ill.; was graduated from the law department of the Indiana University at Bloomington in 1870; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Murphysboro, Jackson County, Ill.; master in chancery 1880-1888; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first and to the nine succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1889, until his death in Murphysboro, Ill., November 30, 1907, before the convening of the Sixtieth Congress; chairman, Committee on Private Land Claims (Fifty-fourth through Fifty-ninth Congresses); interment in the City Cemetery.

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