Adonijah Welch

Adonijah Welch

Adonijah Strong Welch (born April 12, 1821 in East Hampton , Connecticut , †  March 14, 1889 in Pasadena , California ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ) who represented the state of Florida in the US Senate .

Life

At the age of 18 years Adonijah Welch left his home state of Connecticut and settled in Jonesville ( Michigan down). He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1846 and was admitted to the bar the following year. But he did not work as a lawyer, but became the director of a high school in 1849. In the same year he was lured to California for some time by the gold rush . In 1851 he became the first director of Michigan State Normal School , which later became Eastern Michigan University ; he held this post until 1865.

In that year Welch moved to Florida for health reasons, where he lived first in Pensacola and later in Jacksonville . There he ran a sawmill and grew oranges. After his first wife died in 1867, he married Mary Beaumont Dudley the following year, with whom he had two children.

In the course of the Reconstruction after the Civil War , Florida was re-admitted to the Union as one of the defeated southern states in 1868 and was again allowed to provide members in the US Senate in Washington . The election was decided by Thomas W. Osborn and Adonijah Welch, although Welch was a member of Congress only from June 17, 1868 to March 3, 1869, and waived to run again.

He preferred to serve as the first president of Iowa State Agricultural College , which he held from 1869 to 1883. After his resignation, he stayed at the university as a lecturer in psychology . Welch died in his summer residence, Pasadena.

Web links

• Adonijah Welch in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Adonijah Welch in the database of Find a Grave (English)