Charles Henry Voorhis (March 13, 1833 – April 15, 1896) was a lawyer and judge from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
Rutgers College
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
in 1853. He moved to
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.1864 Republican National Convention
The 1864 National Union National Convention was the United States presidential nominating convention of the National Union Party, which was a name adopted by the main faction of the Republican Party in a coalition with many, if not most, War Dem ...
, was presiding judge of
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Hackensack Water Company
Suez North America, founded as the Hackensack Water Company in 1869 and later named United Water, is an American water service company headquartered in Paramus, New Jersey. It owns and operates 16 water and waste water utilities, and operates 9 ...
in 1873. Voorhis was one of the founders of both the Bergen County National Bank and the Hackensack Savings Bank in 1868. Both banks failed in the late 1870s, causing losses of approximately $2 million. While Voorhis was indicted for the failure of the banks, he was ultimately acquitted.
He was elected a Republican to the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
in 1878, serving from 1879 to 1881, not being a candidate for reelection in 1880.
After leaving Congress, he resumed his former business pursuits. On April 15, 1896, he committed suicide in his office in downtown