Hamilton WARD, Congress, NY (1829-1898)

WARD, Hamilton, a Representative from New York; born in Salisbury, Herkimer County, N.Y., July 3, 1829; attended the common schools and was privately tutored; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Phillipsville (now Belmont), N.Y., in 1851; district attorney of Allegany County 1856-1859 and 1862-1865; appointed in 1862 by the Governor as commissioner to raise and equip troops for the Civil War; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1871); chairman, Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Fortieth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1870; delegate to nearly all State conventions from 1858 to 1890; attorney general of New York in 1880 and 1881; member of the State constitutional commission in 1890; appointed and subsequently elected justice of the State supreme court and served from 1891 until his death in Belmont, Allegany County, N.Y., December 28, 1898; interment in Forest Hill Cemetery.

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