Preston King

Preston King

Senior Senator, New York
In office March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1863
Preceded by	Hamilton Fish
Succeeded by	Edwin D. Morgan

Born	October 14, 1806 Ogdensburg, New York, USA
Died	November 12, 1865 New York Harbor, New York City, New York, USA
Political party	Republican, Free Soil

Preston King (October 14, 1806 – November 12, 1865) was a United States Representative and Senator from New York. Born in Ogdensburg, New York, he pursued classical studies and graduated from Union College in 1827. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, first commencing practice in St. Lawrence County. He established the St. Lawrence Republican in 1830 and became postmaster of Ogdensburg from 1831 to 1834. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1834 and served there from 1835 to 1838.

King was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1847), but he was not a candidate for reelection in 1846; while in the House he was chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Invalid Pensions (Twenty-ninth Congress). He was elected as a Free Soiler to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853) and was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate in 1856 and served from March 4, 1857, to March 3, 1863; he did not seek reelection. While in the Senate he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Thirty-seventh Congress).

After his time in Congress he resumed the practice of law, was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1864, and was appointed collector of the Port of New York 1865. He committed suicide by tying a bag of bullets around his neck and leaping from a ferryboat in New York Harbor in 1865; interment was in the City Cemetery, Ogdensburg.

Preceded by Hamilton Fish	United States Senator (Class 1) from New York 1857–1863 Served alongside: William H. Seward, Ira Harris	Succeeded by Edwin D. Morgan

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