James Alexander McDOUGALL, Congress, CA (1817-1867)

McDOUGALL, James Alexander, a Representative and a Senator from California; born in Bethlehem, N.Y., November 19, 1817; attended the Albany, N.Y., public schools; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Cook County, Ill., in 1837; attorney general of Illinois 1842-1846; made explorations of the southwestern part of the United States; finally settled in San Francisco; attorney general of California 1850-1851; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); was not a candidate for renomination in 1854; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1861, to March 3, 1867; was not a candidate for reelection; died in Albany, N.Y., September 3, 1867; interment in Lone Mountain Cemetery (Calvary subdivision), San Francisco, Calif.; reinterred in 1942 in Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, Calif.

Bibliography

Buchanan, Russell. “James A. McDougall, A Forgotten Senator.” California Historical Society Quarterly 15 (September 1936): 199-212; Farr, James. “Not Exactly a Hero: James Alexander McDougall in the United States Senate.” California History 65 (June 1986): 104-13, 152-53.

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