Joseph Washington McCLURG, Congress, MO (1818-1900)

McCLURG, Joseph Washington, a Representative from Missouri; born near Lebanon, St. Louis County, Mo., February 22, 1818; attended Xenia (Ohio) Academy and Oxford (Ohio) College; taught school in Louisiana and Mississippi in 1835 and 1836; moved to Texas in 1839; studied law and was admitted to practice at Columbus, Tex.; clerk of the circuit court in 1840; returned to Missouri in 1841 and engaged in mercantile pursuits; served during the Civil War as colonel of Cavalry in the Union Army; member of the State convention 1861-1863; elected as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-eighth Congress; reelected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses and served from March 4, 1865, until his resignation in 1868, having been elected Governor; elected as a Republican Governor of Missouri and served from January 31, 1869, to January 31, 1871; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; resumed mercantile pursuits at Linn Creek, Mo., and also engaged in steamboating and lead mining; register of the land office at Springfield, Mo., in 1889; died in London, Mo., on December 2, 1900; interment in Lebanon Cemetery.

Bibliography

Morrow, Lynn. “Joseph Washington McClurg: Entrepreneur, Politician, Citizen.” Missouri Historical Review 78 (January 1984): 168-201.

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