Josiah Gardner ABBOTT, Congress, MA (1814-1891)

ABBOTT Josiah Gardner , a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Chelmsford, Middlesex County, Mass., November 1, 1814; attended the Chelmsford Academy, Concord, Mass.; graduated from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1832; LL.D., Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., 1862, teacher; lawyer, private practice; member of the Massachusetts state house of representatives, 1836; member of the Massachusetts state senate, 1841-1842; aide to Massachusetts Governor Marcus Morton, 1843; master in chancery, 1850-1855; member of the Massachusetts state constitutional convention, 1853; justice of the superior court, Suffolk County, Mass., 1855-1858; overseer of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1859-1865; several times was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for United States Senator; declined an appointment to the supreme court bench in 1860; declined the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 1861; successfully contested as a Democrat the election of Rufus S. Frost to the Forty-fourth Congress (July 28, 1876-March 3, 1877); was not a candidate for renomination in 1876; member of the Electoral Commission created by the act of Congress approved January 29, 1877, to decide the presidential election of 1876; died on June 2, 1891, in Wellesley Hills, near Boston, Mass.; interment in St. Mary's Cemetery, Newton Lower Falls, Mass.

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