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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—New Jersey

William Lewis DAYTON

(1807-1864)

Senate Years of Service:

1842-1851

Party:

Whig

DAYTON, William Lewis, a Senator from New Jersey; born in Basking Ridge, Somerset County, N.J., February 17, 1807; attended Trenton (N.J.) Academy and was graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1825; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1830 and commenced practice in Freehold, N.J.; member, State council 1837-1838: associate judge of the State supreme court 1838- 1841, when he resigned; appointed and subsequently elected as a Whig to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Samuel L. Southard; reelected in 1845, and served from July 2, 1842, to March 3, 1851; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Public Buildings (Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Congresses), Committee on Engrossed Bills (Twenty-eighth Congress); resumed the practice of law; nominated in 1856 by the Republican Party as its candidate for vice president on the ticket with John C. Frémont; attorney general of New Jersey 1857-1861; appointed Minister to France on March 18, 1861, and served until his death in Paris, December 1, 1864; interment in Riverview Cemetery, Trenton, N.J.