William HIGBY, Congress, CA (1813-1887)

HIGBY, William, a Representative from California; born in Willsboro, N.Y., on August 18, 1813; attended a preparatory school in Westport, N.Y., and was graduated from the University of Vermont at Burlington in 1840; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1847 and commenced practice in Elizabethtown, N.Y.; moved to California in 1850 and settled in Calaveras County; resumed the practice of law; district attorney 1853-1859; served in the State senate in 1862 and 1863; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1869); chairman, Committee on Mines and Mining (Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1868; editor of the Calaveras Chronicle for several years; was collector of internal revenue 1877-1881; devoted himself to horticulture until his death; died in Santa Rosa, Calif., November 27, 1887; interment in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Calif.

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