John W. Houston

John Wallace Houston (May 4, 1814 - April 26, 1896) was a United States Representative from Delaware. Born in Concord, Delaware, he attended the country schools and Newark Academy, and was graduated from Yale College in 1834. He studied law in Dover, was admitted to the bar in 1837, moved to Georgetown, Delaware in 1839 and commenced the practice of law.

Houston was Secretary of State of Delaware from 1841 to 1844, and was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 4, 1851. While in the House, he was chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Thirtieth Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1850, and was appointed associate judge of the Delaware Superior Court on May 4, 1855. Houston was a member of the peace conference of 1861, held in Washington, D.C., in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war. He retired from the bench in 1893 and died in Georgetown; interment was in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Lewes, Delaware.

Houston's nephew, Robert G. Houston, was also a U.S. Representative from Delaware.

References

*CongBio|H000825

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