Halbert Eleazer PAINE, Congress, WI (1826-1905)

PAINE Halbert Eleazer , a Representative from Wisconsin; born in Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio, February 4, 1826; attended the common schools; was graduated from the Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, in 1845; taught school for a season in Mississippi; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1848 and commenced practice in Cleveland, Ohio; moved to Milwaukee, Wis., in 1857 and continued the practice of law; entered the Union Army in May 1861 as colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers; promoted to the rank of brigadier general on March 13, 1863, and in the following June lost a leg at Port Hudson; brevetted major general on March 13, 1865, and resigned on May 15, 1865; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1871); chairman, Committee on Militia (Fortieth Congress), Committee on Elections (Forty-first Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1870; continued the practice of law in Washington, D.C.; through his efforts the taking of meteorological observations in the interior was inaugurated; appointed Commissioner of Patents by President Grant and served from November 1, 1878, to May 7, 1880; died in Washington, D.C., April 14, 1905; interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

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