Lionel Allen Sheldon | |
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Lionel Allen Sheldon. Engraving by H.B. Hall
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 2nd district |
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In office March 4, 1869 – 1885 |
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Preceded by | James Mann |
Succeeded by | Ezekiel John Ellis |
Governor of New Mexico Territory | |
Assumed office 1881 |
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Preceded by | Lewis Wallace |
Succeeded by | Edmund G. Ross |
Personal details | |
Born |
Worcester, New York, U.S. |
August 30, 1828
Died | January 17, 1917 Pasadena, California, U.S. |
(aged 88)
Resting place | Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum, Altadena, California, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Lionel Allen Sheldon (August 30, 1828 – January 17, 1917) was a U.S. Representative from Louisiana. He was Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1881 to 1885.
Born in Worcester, New York, Sheldon moved with his parents to Lagrange, Ohio. He attended the district school and Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio from 1848 to 1850 and was graduated from the Fowler's State and National Law School,Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1853. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Elyria, Ohio. He was probate judge of Lorain County, Ohio, in 1856 and 1857. He served as delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856, 1880, and 1896. He was commissioned brigadier general of the militia by Governor Chase.
He served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Forty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, November 27, 1861, and promoted to the rank of colonel on March 14, 1862. He settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, and practiced law from 1864 to 1879.
Sheldon was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-third Congresses (March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1875). He served as chairman of the Committee on Militia (Forty-second Congress). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress. He returned to Ohio in 1879.
Sheldon was Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1881 to 1885. He was one of the receivers of the Texas and Pacific Railway from 1885 to 1887.