Francis Elias SPINNER, Congress, NY (1802-1890)

SPINNER Francis Elias , a Representative from New York; born in Mohawk, German Flats, Herkimer County, N.Y., January 21, 1802; was educated by his father; served an apprenticeship at both harness making and candy making; engaged in mercantile pursuits in 1824; entered the State militia and was subsequently promoted to the rank of major general; appointed deputy sheriff in 1829; sheriff of Herkimer County 1834-1837; appointed one of the commissioners for the construction of the State lunatic asylum at Utica in 1838; engaged in banking as cashier and later president of the Mohawk Bank; State inspector of turnpikes; commissioner and supervisor of schools; appointed auditor and deputy naval officer in charge of the port of New York in 1845 and served four years; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fourth Congress and as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1861); chairman, Committee on Accounts (Thirty-sixth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress; appointed by President Lincoln as Treasurer of the United States and served from March 16, 1861, until his resignation on July 1, 1875; successfully urged the employment of women in the Treasury Department; died in Jacksonville, Fla., December 31, 1890; interment in Mohawk Cemetery, Mohawk, N.Y.

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