William R. Smith

William R. Smith

William R. Smith

Photo credit:

Pendarvis (April 5, 2019), General William Rudolph Smith.  www.facebook.com

Sessions

Sessions Office Position District Party
1824-1825 Representative Democrat
Counties Huntingdon

Biography

08/31/1787 - 08/22/1868


SMITH, William Rudolph,  Representative from Huntingdon County; born, August 31, 1787 in LaTrappe (now Trappe), Montgomery County, Pa.; colonel, 62nd Pennsylvania Reserves (War of 1812); brigadier general, 10th Division, 2nd Brigade, Pennsylvania Militia (1821); attorney (1808-1868); appointed, deputy attorney general, Cambria County (1811-1812, 1821); published, The Huntingdon Literary Museum and Monthly Miscellany (1810); unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania State Senate (1812, 1820, 1824); cashier, Huntingdon Bank (1813-1815); unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1821, 1826); elected, Pennsylvania State Senate (1823-1824); elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in a Special Election, February 11, 1825; Sworn-In, February 19, 1825 to serve the remaining 1824-1825 term; not a candidate for reelection to the House (1825); appointed, commissioner, treaty negotiations with the Chippewa Indians (1837); presidential appointee, adjutant general of Wisconsin Territory (1839-1848); elected, district attorney, Iowa County, Wi. (1840-1848); appointed, Commissioner of Wisconsin (1843); elected, delegate, Wisconsin Constitutional Convention (1846); appointed Master in Chancery, Wisconsin (1847); secretary, Wisconsin Territory House of Representatives (1846-1848); chief clerk, Wisconsin State Senate (1848-1850); appointed, court commissioner, Iowa County, Wi. (1849-1851); commissioned, state historian, Wisconsin (1852); appointed, United States Commissioner (1854); elected, Attorney General, Wisconsin (1855-1861); died, August 22, 1868 in Quincy, Adams County, Illinois; interred, Graceland Cemetery, Mineral Point, Iowa County, Wisconsin.

 

Bibliography

Smith, William R.  The History of Wisconsin. In three parts, historical, documentary, and descriptive. III Volumes. Madison, Wi.: Beriah Brown, printer, 1854.

Smith, William Rudolph, and Mary J. Colburn. Minnesota As a Home for Immigrants: Being the First and Second Prize Essays Awarded by the Board of Examiners Appointed Pursuant to an Act of the Legislature of the State of Minnesota, Approved March 4, 1864.  St. Paul, 1865.

Smith, William Rudolph and John Goadby Gregory. Incidents of a Journey from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin Territory, in 1837, Being the Journal of Gen. William Rudolph Smith, U.S. Commissioner for Treaty with the Chippewa Indians of the Upper Mississippi. Chicago: Wright Howes, 1927.

 

Archival Collections

William Rudolph Smith Papers, 1837-1860, Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections.

Scrapbook, compiled by Horace Wemyss Smith 1825-1891, Rare Collections Library, Pennsylvania State Library, Harrisburg.

William Rudolph Smith poems, Am.15605, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

 

PA Senate Biography

Pennsylvania Senate Historical Biography - William Rudolph Smith


If you wish to contact your current State Representative, please visit the Find Your Legislator - opens in a new tab page; or visit the Members of the House - opens in a new tab page to view a list of all current Representatives.