John WENTWORTH, Congress, IL (1815-1888)

WENTWORTH John , a Representative from Illinois; born in Sandwich, Carroll County, N.H., March 5, 1815; educated in the common schools and academies at Gilmanton, Wolfeboro, and New Hampton, N.H., and South Berwick, Maine; taught school for several years, and contributed political articles to newspapers; was graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., in 1836; moved to Chicago, Ill., in 1836, where he engaged as a clerk in a law office, and also studied law; editor and manager of the Chicago Democrat; appointed aide-de-camp to Governor Carlin in 1838; attended the law department of Harvard University in 1841; was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice in Chicago, Ill.; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1851); elected to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); Republican mayor of Chicago 1857-1863; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1861; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth Congress (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1867); resumed the practice of law; died in Chicago, Ill., October 16, 1888; interment in Rosehill Cemetery.

Bibliography

Fehrenbacher, Don Edward. Chicago Giant: A Biography of Long John Wentworth. Madison, Wis.: American History Research Center, 1957. Reprint, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983; Wentworth, John. Congressional Reminiscences. Chicago: Fergus Printing Co., 1882.

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

Birth Date
1815-1888