Richard C. Shannon

Richard Cutts Shannon ( born February 12, 1839 in New London, Connecticut; † October 5, 1920 in Brockport, New York) was an American officer, lawyer and politician. Between 1895 and 1899 he represented the State of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Richard Cutts Shannon was born about seven years before the outbreak of the Mexican -American War in New London and grew up there. He graduated from the Grammar School and High School in Biddeford (Maine ) and the Waterville College (now Colby College) in Maine.

During the Civil War he undertook on 24 June 1861 in the Company H of the Fifth Regiment of Maine Volunteer Infantry. They appointed him on October 10, 1861 First Lieutenant. He was born on March 15, 1862 aide- de-camp of General Henry Warner Slocum and on October 2, 1862 Captain and Assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers. On 10 February 1866 he was honorably discharged.

1871 he was appointed Secretary in the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) - a position which he held until his resignation in March 1875. He took over in 1876 the management of the Botanical Garden Railroad Co., an American company in Brazil, where he was Vice President, CEO and president over time.

Shannon returned back to the United States in 1883 and graduated in 1885 at the Faculty of Law at Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York City. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1886 and then began to practice in New York City. President Benjamin Harrison appointed him in 1891 to the Messenger ( Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary ) in Nicaragua, where he was also accredited for El Salvador and Costa Rica - a position which he held until April 1893.

Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party. In the congressional elections of 1894 for the 54th Congress Shannon was in the 13th electoral district of New York in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of John De Witt Warner on March 4, 1895. After a successful re-election he resigned in 1898 to run again and was eliminated after March 3, in 1899 the Congress of.

After his time Congress, he worked as a lawyer back in New York City. In 1903 he retired and moved to Brockport in Monroe County. He died there on October 5, 1920 and was buried at Lake View Cemetery.