Volney Erskine HOWARD, Congress, TX (1809-1889)

HOWARD, Volney Erskine, a Representative from Texas; born in Norridgewock, Somerset County, Maine, October 22, 1809; completed preparatory studies; attended Bloomfield Academy and Waterville College; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1832 and commenced practice in Brandon, Miss.; member of the State house of representatives in 1836; reporter of the supreme court of the State of Mississippi; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1840 to the Twenty-seventh Congress; editor of the Mississippian; moved to New Orleans, La., and was admitted to the bar there; moved to San Antonio, Tex., in 1847; member of the first State constitutional convention; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1852 to the Thirty-third Congress; engaged in the practice of law in San Francisco, Calif.; moved to Los Angeles in 1861 and continued the practice of law; district attorney 1861-1870; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1878 and 1879; elected judge of the superior court of Los Angeles in 1879; retired at the end of one term on account of ill health; died in Santa Monica, Calif., May 14, 1889; interment in Fort Hill Cemetery, Los Angeles, Calif.

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