George Pelton LAWRENCE, Congress, MA (1859-1917)

LAWRENCE George Pelton , a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Adams, Berkshire County, Mass., May 19, 1859; was graduated from Drury Academy in 1876 and from Amherst (Mass.) College in 1880; studied law at the Columbia Law School; was admitted to the bar in 1883 and commenced practice in North Adams, Mass.; appointed judge of the district of northern Berkshire in 1885; resigned in 1894 upon being elected to the Massachusetts senate; served in the State senate 1895-1897 and was its president in 1896 and 1897; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Ashley B. Wright; reelected to the Fifty-sixth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from November 2, 1897, to March 3, 1913; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of War (Fifty-ninth through Sixty-first Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination in 1912; member of the Massachusetts Public Service Commission from July 1 to September 17, 1913; died in New York City on November 21, 1917; interment in Hillside Cemetery, North Adams, Mass.

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