William ELLIOTT, Congress, SC (1838-1907)

ELLIOTT, William, a Representative from South Carolina; born in Beaufort, Beaufort County, S.C., September 3, 1838; attended Beaufort College and Harvard University; studied law at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and was admitted to the bar in Charleston, S.C., in 1861; upon the outbreak of the Civil War entered the Confederate Army as a lieutenant and served throughout the war, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel; at the close of the war commenced the practice of law in Beaufort, S.C.; member of the State house of representatives in 1866; intendant of Beaufort in 1866; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1884 to the Forty-ninth Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth Congress (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1889); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Fifty-first Congress and served from March 4, 1889, until September 23, 1890, when he was succeeded by Thomas E. Miller, who contested the election; elected to the Fifty-second Congress (March 4, 1891-March 3, 1893); was not a candidate for renomination in 1892; presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Fifty-fourth Congress and served from March 4, 1895, until June 4, 1896, when he was succeeded by George W. Murray, who contested the election; elected to the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, and Fifty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1897-March 3, 1903); was not a candidate for renomination in 1902, but was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate; appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 as commissioner of the United States to mark the graves of Confederate dead in the North and served in this capacity until his death in Beaufort, S.C., on December 7, 1907; interment in St. Helena Churchyard.

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