William Eaton CHANDLER, Congress, NH (1835-1917)

CHANDLER, William Eaton, a Senator from New Hampshire; born in Concord, N.H., December 28, 1835; attended the common schools and the academies in Thetford, Vt., and Pembroke, N.H.; graduated from Harvard Law School in 1854; admitted to the bar in 1855 and commenced practice in Concord, N.H.; appointed reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of New Hampshire in 1859; member, State house of representatives 1862-1864 and served as speaker during the last two years; appointed by President Abraham Lincoln solicitor and judge advocate general of the Navy Department in 1865; appointed First Assistant Secretary of the Treasury 1865-1867, when he resigned; newspaper publisher and editor in New Hampshire during the 1870s and 1880s; member of the State constitutional convention in 1876; member, State house of representatives 1881; appointed by President Chester Arthur as Secretary of the Navy 1882-1885; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Austin F. Pike and served from June 14, 1887, to March 3, 1889; subsequently elected for the term beginning March 4, 1889; reelected in 1895 and served from June 18, 1889, to March 3, 1901; unsuccessful candidate for renomination; chairman, Committee on Immigration (Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses), Committee on Census (Fifty-fourth Congress), Committee on Privileges and Elections (Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses); appointed by President William McKinley as president of the Spanish Claims Treaty Commission 1901-1908; resumed the practice of law in Concord, N.H., and Washington, D.C.; died in Concord, N.H., November 30, 1917; interment in Blossom Hill Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Richardson, Leon B. William E. Chandler, Republican. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1940; Thompson, Carol L. “William E. Chandler: A Radical Republican.” Current History 23 (November 1952): 304-11.

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