Lionel Allen SHELDON, Congress, LA (1828-1917)

SHELDON, Lionel Allen, a Representative from Louisiana; born in Worcester, Otsego County, N.Y., August 30, 1828; moved with his parents to Lagrange, Ohio; attended the district school and Oberlin College, Ohio, 1848-1850 and was graduated from the Fowler Law School, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1853; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Elyria, Lorain County, Ohio; probate judge of Lorain County, Ohio, in 1856 and 1857; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856, 1880, and 1896; commissioned brigadier general of the militia by Governor Chase; served in the Union Army during the Civil War; appointed lieutenant colonel of the Forty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, November 27, 1861, and promoted to the rank of colonel March 14, 1862; settled in New Orleans, La., and practiced law 1864-1879; elected as a Republican to the Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-third Congresses (March 4, 1869-March 3, 1875); chairman, Committee on Militia (Forty-second Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress; returned to Ohio in 1879; Governor of the Territory of New Mexico 1881-1885; one of the receivers of the Texas and Pacific Railway 1885-1887; moved to Los Angeles, Calif., in 1888 and engaged in the practice of law; moved to Pasadena, Calif., and died in that city January 17, 1917; remains were cremated.

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