William Matthew Merrick

William Matthew Merrick

William Matthew Merrick (born September 1, 1818 in Faulkner , Charles County , Maryland , †  February 4, 1899 in Washington, DC ) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1871 and 1873 he represented the state of Maryland in the US House of Representatives ; later he became a federal judge .

Career

William Merrick was the son of US Senator William Duhurst Merrick (1793-1857). He studied until 1831 at Georgetown University in the federal capital Washington. After a subsequent law degree at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and his admission as a lawyer in 1839, he began to work in Frederick in this profession from 1844 . Between 1845 and 1850 he was an assistant district attorney in Frederick County . In 1854 he moved to Washington, where he was from 1854 to 1863 a Circuit Court judge for the District of Columbia . He then practiced again as a lawyer in Maryland. He also taught law in 1866 and 1867 at Columbian College , later George Washington University . At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . In 1867 he was a delegate to a meeting to revise the Maryland Constitution; in 1870 he was a member of the Maryland House of Representatives .

In the congressional election of 1870 Merrick was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington in the fifth constituency of his state, where he succeeded Frederick Stone on March 4, 1871 . Since he was not confirmed in 1872, he could only serve one term in Congress until March 3, 1873 . After the end of his time in the US House of Representatives, Merrick worked again as a lawyer. Between 1885 and 1889 he was a judge in the federal district court for the District of Columbia . He died on February 4, 1889 in the federal capital Washington.

Web links

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

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