- Louis E. McComas
Louis Emory McComas (
October 28 ,1846 –November 10 ,1907 ), a Republican, was a member of the U.S. Congress from the sixth district of Maryland from 1883 to 1891, and a member of theUnited States Senate from 1899 to 1905, each time representing the State of Maryland. His granddaughter,Katharine Byron , and great-grandson,Goodloe Byron , also represented Maryland the U.S. Congress.McComas was born near
Hagerstown, Maryland . He attended St. James College in Maryland and, in 1866, graduated fromDickinson College inCarlisle, Pennsylvania . In 1868, after studying law, McComas was admitted to the bar and began practice in Hagerstown.In 1876, McComas was defeated in his bid for a seat in the Forty-fifth Congress, but after nearly a decade out of politics, McComas was successfully elected in 1882 to the Forty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress.
Following his tenure in Congress, McComas served as secretary of the
Republican National Committee 1892. OnNovember 17 ,1892 , he was appointed by PresidentBenjamin Harrison anAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, which he held until 1899. He also served as a professor ofinternational law atGeorgetown University in the District.McComas was successfully elected to the United States Senate in 1898. While senator, he served as chairman of the Committee on Organization, Conduct, and Expenditures of Executive Departments (Fifty-sixth Congress) and as a member of the Committee on Education and Labor (Fifty-seventh and Fifty-eighth Congresses).
McComas did not run for a second term in the Senate after being appointed by President
Theodore Roosevelt as a justice of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1905. He served in that position until his death in Washington, D.C. in 1907, and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Hagerstown.References
*CongBio|M000351
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