Richard Cutts SHANNON, Congress, NY (1839-1920)

SHANNON, Richard Cutts, a Representative from New York; born in New London, Conn., February 12, 1839; was graduated from the grammar and high schools at Biddeford, Maine, and from Waterville College (now Colby College), Maine; during the Civil War enlisted in Company H, Fifth Regiment, Maine Volunteer Infantry, June 24, 1861; appointed first lieutenant October 10, 1861; aide-de-camp to General Slocum March 15, 1862; captain and assistant adjutant general of Volunteers October 2, 1862; honorably discharged February 10, 1866; appointed secretary of the United States legation at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1871, and served until March 1875, when he resigned; took charge of the Botanical Garden Railroad Co. in 1876, an American enterprise in Brazil, of which he subsequently became the vice president, general manager, and president; returned to the United States in 1883 and was graduated from the law department of Columbia College, New York City, in 1885; was admitted to the New York bar in 1886 and commenced practice in New York City; appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Nicaragua, Salvador, and Costa Rica in 1891, and served until April 1893; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1899); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1898; resumed the practice of his profession in New York City; retired in 1903 and moved to Brockport, Monroe County, N.Y., where he died October 5, 1920; interment in Lake View Cemetery.

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