William Henry Sowden

William Henry Sowden (born June 6, 1840 in Liskeard , Cornwall , England , †  March 3, 1907 in Allentown , Pennsylvania ) was an American politician . Between 1885 and 1889 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives .

Career

In 1846, William Sowden and his father came to Philadelphia from their home in England . They later moved to Allentown, where he attended public schools and the Allentown Academy . Between August 1862 and May 1863 he served as a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War . He was seriously wounded in the meantime. After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1865, he began to work in Allentown in this profession. From 1872 to 1874 he was a district attorney in Lehigh County there . Politically, he became a member of the Democratic Party . In 1874 he ran unsuccessfully for the office of lieutenant governor of his state. Two years later, his first candidacy for Congress failed . In July 1884, he took part as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago , where Grover Cleveland was nominated as a presidential candidate.

In the congressional election of 1884 , Sowden was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the tenth constituency of Pennsylvania , where he succeeded William Mutchler on March 4, 1885 . After re-election, he was able to complete two legislative terms in Congress until March 3, 1889. In 1888 he renounced another candidacy.

After his time in the US House of Representatives, Sowden practiced as a lawyer again. From 1900 to 1902 he was also the legal representative of his hometown Allentown. In 1900 he was once again a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Then he switched to the Republicans . In 1904, he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for his new party to return to Congress. In 1906 he became the legal representative of Lehigh County. William Sowden died on March 3, 1907 in Allentown, where he was also buried.

Web links

• William Henry Sowden in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William Henry Sowden in the database of Find a Grave (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
William Mutchler	United States House Representative for Pennsylvania (10th Constituency) March 4, 1885 - March 3, 1889	Marriott Henry Brosius