Peter Dumont VROOM, Congress, NJ (1791-1873)

VROOM, Peter Dumont, a Representative from New Jersey; born in Hillsboro, Somerset County, N.J., December 12, 1791; attended the common schools and the Somerville (N.J.) Academy; was graduated from Columbia College, New York City, in 1808; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1813 and commenced practice in Hillsboro; moved to Somerville in 1821; member of the State general assembly in 1826, 1827, and 1829; became a sergeant at law in 1828; elected Governor of New Jersey as a Jacksonian in 1829, 1830, and 1831; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1832, but again elected in 1833, 1834, 1835, and 1836; on account of ill health declined to become a candidate for renomination; was appointed a commissioner to adjust the claims of the Choctaw Indians in 1837; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1839-March 3, 1841); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1840 to the Twenty-seventh Congress; moved to Trenton, N.J., and resumed the practice of law; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1844; appointed chief justice of the supreme court of New Jersey in 1853, but declined; appointed Minister to Prussia on May 24, 1853, and served until August 10, 1857; again resumed the practice of law; delegate to the peace convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; reporter of the supreme court of New Jersey 1862-1872; commissioner of the sinking fund of New Jersey from 1864 until his death; died in Trenton, N.J., November 18, 1873; interment in the cemetery of the First Reformed Dutch Church, Somerville, N.J.

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