US Congressman, US Senator. Elected to represent Michigan's 4th District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1865 to 1871. Also served as a Member of the Michigan State House of Representatives from 1851 to 1852, Member of the Michigan State Senate for the 31st District from 1857 to 1858, and United States Senator from Michigan from 1871 to 1883

Representative from Kent and Ottawa counties, 1851; Senator from the Thirty-first District, 1887; member of Congress, 1865-7 to 1869-71; and United States Senator, 1871-83. Was born at Mackinaw, Mich., June 1, 1827 and received his education in the public schools. He was appointed one of the vice-presidents of the Chicago National Convention in 1860; was appointed a member of the Board of managers of the Gettysburgh National Cemetery in 1864, and reappointed in 1867. He was re-elected to the forty-second Congress, but was afterwards elected United States Senator, to succeed Jacob M. Howard. While in the house, he was chairman of the subcomittee on the New York Postoffice building and the erection of that magnificient structure was largely due to his exertions. He took his seat in the Senate Mar. 4, 1871; was elected president pro tem Mar. 9 and 19, and Dec. 20, 1875; became acting vice-president upon the death of Vice-President Wilson, serving as such until March 4, 1877. In the absence of the president, he presided and delivered an address at the centennial exposition, July 4, 1876. He was re-elected Senator Jan. 17, 1877 and he was also re-elected president pro tem Mar. 5, 1877, Feb. 26, 1878, Apr. 17, 1878 and Mar. 3, 1879. In the Senate he was for many years chairman of the committees on rules, and postoffices and post-roads, and a member of the committee on finance. His ability as presiding officer was teseted in the impeachment trial of Secretary of War Belknap, and at the joint convention on the electoral count of 1877. He was a leading candidate for re-election in 1883, but after a long and heated contest his name was withdrawn. He died at Grand Haven, Oct. 1896.

Source: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.michigan.counties.kent&m=1218 Michigan Biographies: Including Members of Congress, Elective State Officers, Justices of the Supreme Court, Members of the Michigan Legislature, Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, State Board of Agriculture and State Board of Education. Lansing, Michigan: The Michigan Historical Commission, 1924.

A Representative and a Senator from Michigan; born in the old mission house of the Astor Fur Co. on Mackinac Island, Mich., June 10, 1827; moved with his parents to Grand Haven, Mich.; attended the public schools; engaged in mercantile pursuits; member, State house of representatives 1850-1852; member, State senate 1856; delegate to the Loyalist Convention at Philadelphia in 1866; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1871); reelected to the Forty-second Congress, but resigned, having been elected Senator; elected to the United States Senate in 1871, reelected in 1877 and served from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1883; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1882; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses; chairman, Committee on Rules (Forty-third through Forty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Forty-fifth and Forty-seventh Congresses); presided over the high court of impeachment of Secretary of War William Belknap and over the sixteen joint meetings of the Senate and House of Representatives during the Hayes-Tilden presidential electoral contest in 1877; died in Grand Haven, Mich., October 13, 1896; interment in Lake Forest Cemetery.

Source: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000095