William Lawrence SCOTT, Congress, PA (1828-1891)

SCOTT, William Lawrence, (grandson of Gustavus Scott), a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Washington, D.C., July 2, 1828; attended the common schools and Hampden-Sidney Academy in Virginia; page in the House of Representatives 1840-1846; moved to Erie, Pa., in 1846 and was employed as a shipping clerk until 1850; was subsequently engaged in shipping, coal mining, iron manufacturing, banking, and railroad construction; had extensive land holdings and was interested in the raising of cattle; mayor of Erie in 1866 and again in 1871; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1866 to the Fortieth Congress and in 1876 to the Forty-fifth Congress; elected a member of the Democratic National Committee in 1876, 1880, and 1884; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1876, 1880, and 1888; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses (March 4, 1885-March 3, 1889); chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy (Fiftieth Congress); was renominated in 1888 and again in 1890 but each time declined to be a candidate because of the condition of his health; director in a number of railroad companies and president of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad at the time of his death in Newport, R.I., September 19, 1891; interment in Erie Cemetery, Erie, Pa.

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