William Henry DENSON, Congress, AL (1846-1906)

DENSON William Henry , a Representative from Alabama; born in Uchee, Russell County, Ala., March 4, 1846; attended the common schools and the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa; left the University of Alabama in 1863 to join the Confederate Army; worked on his father's farm and studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1868 and commenced practice in Union Springs, Ala.; moved to Lafayette, Chambers County, Ala., in October 1870; mayor of Lafayette in 1874; member of the State house of representatives in 1876; moved to Gadsden, Etowah County, in 1877 and continued the practice of his profession; appointed by President Cleveland United States district attorney for the northern and middle districts of Alabama and served from June 30, 1885, to June 3, 1889; chairman of the Democratic State convention in 1890; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1895); was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1894; moved to Birmingham, Ala., where he resumed the practice of law; died in Birmingham, Ala., September 26, 1906; interment in Elmwood Cemetery.

Bibliography

Harris, D. Alan. ``Campaigning in the Bloody Seventh: The Election of 1894 in the Seventh Congressional District.'' The Alabama Review 27 (April 1974): 127-38.

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