William St. John FORMAN, Congress, IL (1847-1908)

FORMAN, William St. John, a Representative from Illinois; born in Natchez, Adams County, Miss., January 20, 1847; moved with his father to Nashville, Washington County, Ill., in 1851; attended the public schools, and Washington Seminary, Richview, Ill.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1870 and commenced practice in Nashville, Ill.; mayor 1878-1884; delegate to all State and National Democratic Conventions from 1876 to 1896; member of the State senate 1884-1888; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1895); chairman, Committee on Militia (Fifty-third Congress); moved to East St. Louis, Ill., in 1895; unsuccessful candidate as a Gold Standard Democrat for election as Governor in 1896; resumed the practice of his profession; appointed by President Cleveland as Commissioner of Internal Revenue and served from 1895 to 1899; died in Champaign, Ill., June 10, 1908; interment in Masonic Cemetery, Nashville, Ill.

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