John Alsop KING, Congress, NY (1788-1867)

KING, John Alsop, (son of Rufus King and brother of James Gore King), a Representative from New York; born in New York City January 3, 1788; attended Harrow School, England, and also studied in Paris; returned to New York City; studied law; was admitted to the bar; served in the War of 1812 as lieutenant of Cavalry; engaged in farming near Jamaica, N.Y.; member of the State assembly 1819-1821; served in the State senate from 1823 until his resignation in 1825; appointed secretary of the legation at London in 1825; Chargé d’Affaires June 15 to August 5, 1826; again elected to the State assembly in 1832, 1838, and 1840; delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1839 and 1852; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first Congress (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1851); resumed the practice of law; Governor of New York in 1857 and 1858; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856; member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; died in Jamaica, Long Island, N.Y., July 7, 1867; interment in Grace Church Cemetery.

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