James BROOKS, Congress, NY (1810-1873)

BROOKS, James, a Representative from New York; born in Portland, Maine, November 10, 1810; attended the public schools; attended the academy at Monmouth, Maine; taught school at sixteen years of age in Lewiston; was graduated from Waterville (Maine) College in 1831; studied law and also edited the Portland Advertiser, and in 1832 was its Washington correspondent; member of the State house of representatives in 1835; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress; moved to New York City in 1836 and established the New York Daily Express, of which he was editor in chief the remainder of his life; served in the State assembly in 1847; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1852 to the Thirty-third Congress; resumed his editorial pursuits; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Thirty-ninth Congress and served from March 4, 1865, to April 7, 1866, when he was succeeded by William E. Dodge, who contested the election; elected to the Fortieth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1867, until his death; censured by the House of Representatives on February 27, 1873, for attempted bribery in connection with the Crédit Mobilier scandal; member of the State constitutional convention in 1867; appointed a Government director of the Union Pacific Railroad in October 1867; died in Washington, D.C., April 30, 1873; interment in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y.

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