Sherman Otis HOUGHTON, Congress, CA (1828-1914)

HOUGHTON, Sherman Otis, a Representative from California; born in New York City on April 10, 1828; completed preparatory studies and attended Collegiate Institute, New York; during the Mexican War enlisted in the First Regiment, New York Volunteers, in June 1846; honorably discharged at Monterey, Calif., in October 1848; proceeded to the gold mines and thence to San Jose; deputy clerk of the State supreme court in 1854; mayor of San Jose, Calif., in 1855 and 1856; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1857 and commenced practice in San Jose; during the Civil War was commissioned captain and promoted to lieutenant colonel, and served successively as inspector and ordnance officer; elected as a Republican to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1875); chairman, Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures (Forty-third Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress; appointed commissioner to investigate the affairs of the United States Mint at San Francisco in 1881; moved to Los Angeles in 1886 and continued the practice of law; died in Compton, Los Angeles County, Calif., August 31, 1914; interment in Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles, Calif.

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