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Senate Years of Service: 1866-1891 Party: Republican
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EDMUNDS, George Franklin, a Senator from Vermont; born in Richmond, Chittenden County, Vt., February 1,
1828; attended the common schools and was privately tutored; studied law; admitted to the bar in
1849 and commenced practice in Burlington, Vt.; member, State house of representatives
1854-1859, serving three years as speaker; member, State senate, serving as its presiding officer in
1861 and 1862; appointed on April 3, 1866, and elected on October 24, 1866, as a Republican to
the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Solomon Foote; reelected in 1868,
1874, 1880, and 1886 and served from April 3, 1866, until his resignation, effective November 1,
1891; President pro tempore of the Senate (Forty-seventh and Forty-eight Congresses); chairman,
Republican Conference (Forty-ninth to Fifty-first Congresses), Committee on Pensions (Forty-first and
Forty-second Congresses), Committee on the Judiciary (Forty-second to Forty-fifth Congresses, and
Forty-seventh to Fifty-first Congresses), Committee on Private Land Claims (Forty-sixth Congress),
Committee on Foreign Relations (Forty-seventh Congress); appointed a member of the Electoral
Commission to decide the contests in various States in the presidential election of 1876; resumed the
practice of law in Philadelphia, Pa.; subsequently moved to Pasadena, Calif., where he died February
27, 1919; interment in Green Mount Cemetery, Burlington, Vt.
BibliographyAmerican National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Adler, Selig. The Senatorial Career of George Franklin
Edmunds, 1866-1891. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, 1934; Welch, Richard E., Jr. George
Edmunds of Vermont: Republican Half-Breed. Vermont History 36 (Spring 1968):
64-73.
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