Henry Joshua SPOONER, Congress, RI (1839-1918)

SPOONER Henry Joshua , a Representative from Rhode Island; born in Providence, R.I., August 6, 1839; attended the common schools and was graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1860; studied law; entered the Union Army in 1862 as second lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry; served in the Armies of the Potomac and the James, mostly in the Ninth Army Corps; was admitted to the bar in 1865 and commenced practice in Providence, R.I.; commander of the department of Rhode Island, Grand Army of the Republic, in 1877; member of the State house of representatives 1875-1881, serving as speaker 1879-1881; elected as a Republican to the Forty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nelson W. Aldrich; reelected to the Forty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from December 5, 1881, to March 3, 1891; chairman, Committee on Accounts (Fifty-first Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress; again a member of the State house of representatives in 1902; resumed the practice of law in Providence, R.I., and died in that city February 9, 1918; interment in Swan Point Cemetery.

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