David Safford WALBRIDGE, Congress, MI (1802-1868)

WALBRIDGE David Safford , a Representative from Michigan; born in Bennington, Vt., July 30, 1802; attended the common schools; moved to New York in 1820 and engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits at Geneseo from 1820 to 1826 and at Jamestown from 1826 to 1842; moved to Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1842; again engaged in mercantile pursuits; became a large landowner and stock raiser; member of the State house of representatives in 1848; served two terms in the State senate; served as permanent chairman of the first Republican State convention held July 6, 1854, at Jackson, Mich.; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1859); resumed his former pursuits; appointed postmaster of Kalamazoo by President Johnson; died in Kalamazoo, Mich., June 15, 1868; interment in Mountain Home Cemetery.

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