Samuel Lyon Russell

Samuel Lyon Russell ( born July 30, 1816 in Bedford, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, † September 27, 1891 ) was an American politician. Between 1853 and 1855 he represented the State of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Samuel Russell was the son of Congressman James McPherson Russell ( 1786-1870 ). He attended the common schools and the Bedford Academy. In 1834, he graduated from Washington College in Washington ( Pennsylvania). After studying law and his 1837 was admitted as a lawyer, he started working in Bedford in this profession. In the 1840s he also worked as a prosecutor in Bedford County. Politically, he was a member of the Whig party.

In the congressional elections of 1852 Russell was in the 17th electoral district of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he succeeded the Democrat Andrew Parker on March 4, 1853. Since he resigned in 1854 to further candidacy, he was able to complete only one term in Congress until March 3, 1855. This was marked by the events leading up to the Civil War.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Samuel Russell practiced as a lawyer again. After the dissolution of the Whigs, he joined the new Republican Party. In 1873 he took part in a constitutional convention of his home state as the delegate. In Bedford, he was both a member of the municipal council and the school committee. He died on 27 September 1891.