George Perkins MARSH, Congress, VT (1801-1882)

MARSH George Perkins , a Representative from Vermont; born in Woodstock, Windsor County, Vt., March 15, 1801; was graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1820; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1825 and commenced practice in Burlington, Vt.; member of the Governor's council in 1835; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1843, until his resignation in 1849, having been appointed by President Taylor as Minister Resident to Turkey, in which office he served from May 29, 1849, to December 19, 1853; charged with a special mission to Greece in 1852; fish commissioner of Vermont in 1857 and railroad commissioner 1857-1859; appointed by President Lincoln as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Italy on March 20, 1861, and served until his death in Vallombrosa, Italy, July 23, 1882; interment in English Cemetery, Rome, Italy.

Bibliography

Lowenthal, David. George Perkins Marsh, Prophet of Conservation. Foreword by William Cronon. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2000; Marsh, Caroline Crane, comp. Life and Letters of George Perkins Marsh. In two volumes. Vol. I. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1888.

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