Richard Montgomery YOUNG, Congress, IL (1798-1861)

YOUNG Richard Montgomery , a Senator from Illinois; born in Fayette County, Ky., February 20, 1798; attended the country schools and Forest Hill Academy, Jessamine County, Ky.; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky in 1816; member of the Kentucky militia; moved to Illinois in 1817 and commenced the practice of law in Jonesboro; appointed captain in the Illinois militia; member of the Illinois state house of representatives, 1820–1822; served as circuit judge of fifth circuit from 1825 to January 2, 1837, when he resigned upon his election to the United States Senate; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate, and served from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1843; member of the mission to England to negotiate a loan for the state of Illinois in 1839; associate justice of the Illinois state supreme court from 1843 to 1847, when he resigned; was appointed by President James K. Polk Commissioner of the General Land Office, and served from 1847 to 1849; elected Clerk of the United States House of Representatives for the Thirty-first Congress (April 17, 1850–December 1, 1851); resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., where he died November 28, 1861; interment in Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

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