George Huntington BROWNE, Congress, RI (1811-1885)

BROWNE George Huntington , a Representative from Rhode Island; born in Gloucester, R.I., January 6, 1811; attended the public schools and was graduated from Brown University in 1840; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1843 and commenced practice in Providence, R.I.; elected a representative to the so-called ``Charter'' General Assembly of Rhode Island in 1842; at the same time was elected a representative to what was termed the ``Suffrage'' legislature and attended the latter; member of the general assembly under the constitution 1849-1852; appointed United States district attorney in 1852 and served until 1861 when he resigned; delegate to the Charleston and Baltimore Democratic National Conventions in 1860; delegate to the peace convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; elected as a candidate of the Democratic and Constitutional Union Parties to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1862 to the Thirty-eighth Congress; declined the appointment as Governor of the Territory of Arizona in 1861; entered the Union Army as colonel of the Twelfth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, October 13, 1862, and served throughout the Civil War; member of the State senate in 1872 and 1873; elected chief justice of the supreme court of Rhode Island in May 1874 but declined the office; died in Providence, R.I., September 26, 1885; interment in Swan Point Cemetery.

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