William Joyce Sewell

William Joyce Sewell

William Joyce Sewell (born December 6, 1835 in Castlebar , County Mayo , Ireland , † December 27, 1901 in Camden , New Jersey ) was an American politician . Between 1881 and 1887 and again between 1895 and 1901 he represented the state of New Jersey in the US Senate .

Career

In 1851, William Sewell came to the United States from his Irish homeland, where he first settled in Chicago , Illinois , and worked in commerce. In 1860 he moved to Camden, New Jersey. During the Civil War , he served in the New Jersey State Volunteer Forces, which were part of the Union Army . He rose from captain to colonel. After the war he became a brevet transported -Generalmajor. He was wounded several times during the war. He suffered one of these wounds at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.

After the end of the war, Sewell went into the railroad business in New Jersey. He made it to the President of the West Jersey & Seashore Rail Road Company . At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Republican Party . Between 1872 and 1881 he was a member of the New Jersey Senate , of which he was president in 1876 and from 1879 to 1880. In the elections of 1880 Sewell was elected to the US Senate, where he succeeded Theodore Fitz Randolph as Class 1 Senator on March 4, 1881 . Since he was not confirmed in his office in 1886, he was initially only able to serve a six-year term in Congress until March 3, 1887 . In the meantime he was chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration , which was then called the Committee on Enrolled Bills . He was also a member of the Military Committee and the United States Congress Joint Committee on the Library .

In the following years Sewell twice applied for return to the US Senate without success. In 1893 he was part of the New Jersey delegation to the Chicago World's Fair . He was also active in the national guard of his state. There he commanded their second brigade. Sewell also served on the board of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers veterans organization . In 1895 he was re-elected to the US Senate, where he succeeded John R. McPherson as Class 2 Senator on March 4, 1895 . After being re-elected, he was able to exercise this mandate until his death on December 27, 1901. During this time the Spanish-American War of 1898 fell . From 1895 he was again chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills .

Web links

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