Chester Bidwell DARRALL, Congress, LA (1842-1908)

DARRALL Chester Bidwell , a Representative from Louisiana; born near Addison, Somerset County, Pa., June 24, 1842; attended the common schools; studied medicine and was graduated from the Albany (N.Y.) Medical College; during the Civil War entered the Union Army as assistant surgeon of the Eighty-sixth Regiment, New York Volunteers, and later was promoted to surgeon; resigned from the Army while on duty in Louisiana in 1867 and engaged in mercantile pursuits and planting in Brashear (now Morgan City), La.; member of the State senate of Louisiana in 1868; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1872 and 1876; elected as a Republican to the Forty-first and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1869-March 3, 1877); presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Forty-fifth Congress and served from March 4, 1877, to February 20, 1878, when he was succeeded by Joseph H. Acklen, who contested the election; was not a candidate for renomination in 1878; moved to Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, La.; elected to the Forty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1883); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress; register of the United States land office, New Orleans, La., 1883-1885; engaged in sugarcane planting; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1888 to the Fiftieth Congress; moved to Washington, D.C., where he died on January 1, 1908; interment in Glenwood Cemetery.

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