Henry Joshua Spooner
(August 6, 1839 -
February 9, 1918),
was a United States
Representative from Rhode Island
.
Born in
Providence,
Rhode Island
, Spooner attended the common schools and graduated
from Brown
University
in
1860. During his undergraduate career Spooner became a
member of
Theta Delta Chi. After
graduation, he studied law before entering the
Union Army in 1862 as
second lieutenant in the Fourth Regiment,
Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry. He served in the
Army of the Potomac and the
Army of the James, mostly in the
XVIII Corps.
After the end of the
Civil War,
Spooner was admitted to the bar in 1865 and commenced practice in
Providence. He became the commander of the department of Rhode
Island, Grand Army of the Republic, in 1877, before joining the
political ranks as member of the
Rhode Island House of
Representatives from 1875-1881. During his career in the state
house, Spooner served as speaker 1879-1881.
In 1881 he was elected as a
Republican
to the
47th United States
Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
Nelson W. Aldrich and he was reelected to the
Forty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from
December 5, 1881, to March 3, 1891. While in Congress, Spooner
served as chairman of
United States House
Committee on Accounts during the
51st United States Congress. In
1890, Spooner was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to
Congress.
After a 12 year political hiatus, he returned to the Rhode
Island State House of Representatives in 1902. He also resumed the
practice of law in Providence. Spooner died in that city February
9, 1918 and was interred at Swan Point Cemetery.
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