William Higby

This article is for Congressman William Higby of California. The lieutenant governor of Colorado of the same name can be found under William Eugene Higby .

William Higby

William Higby (born August 18, 1813 in Willsboro , Essex County , New York , †  November 27, 1887 in Santa Rosa , California ) was an American politician . Between 1863 and 1869 he represented the state of California in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William Higby attended the public schools in Westport and then studied until 1840 at the University of Vermont at Burlington . After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1847, he began to work in Elizabethtown in this profession. In 1850, Higby moved to Calaveras County , California, where he also practiced as a lawyer. Between 1853 and 1859 he was a district attorney there. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Republican Party . He served in the California Senate in 1862 and 1863 .

In the congressional elections of 1862 Higby was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the second constituency of California , where he succeeded Aaron Augustus Sargent on March 4, 1863 . After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1869 . These were shaped by the events of the civil war until 1865 . Since 1865, the work of Congress has been overshadowed by tension between the Republican Party and President Andrew Johnson , which culminated in a narrowly unsuccessful impeachment trial. In 1865 and 1868, the 13th and 14th amendments were ratified. Since 1865, William Higby was chairman of the mining committee. In 1868 he was no longer nominated for re-election by his party.

After his tenure in the US House of Representatives, Higby worked as a newspaper publisher for several years. Between 1877 and 1881 he was the head of the local tax office in his California homeland. He also devoted himself to horticulture. He died in Santa Rosa on November 27, 1887 and was buried in Oakland .

Web links

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

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