John Davis LONG, Congress, MA (1838-1915)

LONG John Davis , a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, October 27, 1838; attended the common schools at Buckfield and Hebron Academy, Maine; was graduated from the academic department of Harvard University in 1857; taught school in Westford Academy, Massachusetts; studied law at Harvard Law School and in private offices; was admitted to the bar in 1861 and commenced practice in Buckfield, Maine; moved to Boston, Mass., in 1863 and continued the practice of law, and in 1869 moved to Hingham, Mass.; member of the State house of representatives 1875-1878 and served the last three years as speaker of the house; Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1879; Governor of Massachusetts 1880-1882; elected as a Republican to the Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, and Fiftieth Congresses (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1889); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1888; continued the practice of his profession in Boston; appointed Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President McKinley and served from March 5, 1897, until May 1, 1902, when he resigned; resumed the practice of law in Boston, with residence in Hingham, Mass.; president of overseers of Harvard University and of the Authors' Club of Boston; died in Hingham, Mass., August 28, 1915; interment in Hingham Cemetery.

Bibliography

Hess, James W. ` `John D. Long and Reform Issues in Massachusetts Politics, 1870-1889.'' New England Quarterly 33 (March 1960): 57-73; Long, John Davis. Journal. Edited by Margaret Long. Rindge, N.H.: R.R. Smith, 1956.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present