Philemon BLISS, Congress, OH (1813-1889)

BLISS, Philemon, a Representative from Ohio; born in Canton, Conn., July 28, 1813; attended Fairfield Academy and Hamilton College; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1840 and commenced practice at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; later practiced in Elyria, Ohio; presiding judge of the fourteenth judicial circuit of Ohio 1848-1851; elected as an Opposition Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress and as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1859); was not a candidate for renomination in 1858; appointed chief justice of the supreme court of the Territory of Dakota by President Lincoln in 1861; subsequently moved to St. Joseph, Mo.; associate justice of the supreme court of Missouri 1868-1872; dean of the law division of the State University of Missouri at Columbia 1872-1889; died in St. Paul, Minn., August 25, 1889; interment in the Columbia Cemetery, Columbia, Mo.

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