William S. Herndon

William Smith Herndon ( born November 27, 1835 in Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, † October 11, 1903 in Albuquerque, New Mexico ) was an American politician. Between 1871 and 1875 he represented the state of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

William Herndon attended the common schools and in Wood County, Texas, where he had moved in 1852. In 1859, he graduated from McKenzie College. After a subsequent law degree in 1860 and its recent approval as a lawyer, he started in Tyler to work in this profession. During the Civil War Herndon served 1861-1865 in the army of the Confederacy, where he rose to become captain. After the war, he practiced as a lawyer again. Between 1868 and 1881 he was legal adviser to various railway companies.

Politically, Herndon was a member of the Democratic Party. In the congressional elections of 1870, he was the first electoral district of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of George W. Whitmore on March 4, 1871. After a re-election he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1875 two legislative sessions. In 1874 he was not re-elected. After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Herndon again worked as a lawyer in Tyler. He also went into the railway business. He died on October 11, 1903 in Albuquerque and was buried in Tyler.