William Grant LAIDLAW, Congress, NY (1840-1908)

LAIDLAW, William Grant, a Representative from New York; born near Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland, January 1, 1840; immigrated to the United States in 1852 with his parents, who settled in Franklinville, Cattaraugus County, N.Y.; attended the common schools and Ten Broek Free Academy at Franklinville; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1866 and practiced; served two years in the United States Navy during the Civil War; school commissioner of the first district of Cattaraugus County 1867-1870; moved to Ellicottville, N.Y., in 1870; assessor of internal revenue of the thirty-first collection district of New York 1871-1877; district attorney of Cattaraugus County 1877-1883; elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1891); chairman, Committee on Claims (Fifty-first Congress); resumed the practice of his profession in Ellicottville, Cattaraugus County, N.Y., and died there on August 19, 1908; interment in Sunset Hill Cemetery.

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