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Oil on canvas, Joseph Lauber, 1911, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives |
PENNINGTON, William, (cousin of Alexander Cumming McWhorter Pennington),
a Representative from New Jersey; born in Newark, N.J., May 4, 1796;
completed preparatory studies; was graduated from Princeton College in 1813;
clerk of the United States district court 1815-1826; studied law; was admitted
to the bar and commenced practice in Newark in 1820; member of the State
general assembly in 1828; served as sergeant at law in 1834; Governor of New
Jersey from 1837 to 1843; appointed Governor of Minnesota Territory by
President Fillmore but declined to accept; elected as a Republican to the
Thirty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1859-March 3, 1861); Speaker of the House of
Representatives (Thirty-sixth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection
in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress; died in Newark, N.J., February 16,
1862; interment in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
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