William Cannon HOUSTON, Congress, TN (1852-1931)

HOUSTON William Cannon , a Representative from Tennessee; born near Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tenn., March 17, 1852; moved with his mother to Woodbury, Cannon County, Tenn., in 1858; attended the schools of Woodbury and Sweetwater, Tenn.; engaged in agricultural pursuits and later in the publication of a newspaper; member of the State house of representatives 1877-1879 and 1881-1885; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1878 and commenced practice in Woodbury, Tenn.; member of the Democratic State executive committee in 1888; chairman of the Democratic State convention in 1888; elected judge of the eighth judicial circuit in 1894, was reelected in 1902, and served until elected to Congress; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-ninth and to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1905-March 3, 1919); chairman, Committee on the Census (Sixty-second Congress), Committee on Territories (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination in 1918; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1920; died on his plantation, ``Beaver Dam,'' near Woodbury, Tenn., August 30, 1931; interment in Riverside Cemetery, near Woodbury, Tenn.

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