Joshua Weldon Miles (December 9, 1858 – March 4, 1929) was an American politician. Born on his father’s farm on the Great Annamessex River, near the village of Marion,

Somerset County, Maryland Somerset County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,620, making it the second-least populous county in Maryland. The county seat is Princess Anne. The county was named for Mary, ...

, Miles attended private schools and Marion Academy. He graduated from

Western Maryland College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to the college. ...

Westminster, Maryland Westminster is a city in northern Maryland, United States. It is the seat of Carroll County. The city's population was 18,590 at the 2010 census. Westminster is an outlying community within the Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA, which is part of a greate ...

, in 1878 and attended the law department of the

University of Maryland, Baltimore The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1807, it comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, social work and nursing in the United States ...

. He was admitted to the bar in July 1880 and commenced practice in

Princess Anne, Maryland Princess Anne is a town in Somerset County, Maryland, Somerset County, Maryland, United States, that also serves as its county seat. Its population was 3,290 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is included in the Salisbury metropolita ...

. Miles served as

State's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

of Somerset County from 1883 to 1887, but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. He ran for and was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fourth Congress, serving one term from March 4, 1895, to March 3, 1897, having been an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1896 to the Fifty-fifth Congress. He resumed the practice of law in Princess Anne, served as president of the Bank of Somerset from 1900 to 1929, and was a delegate at large to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

s of 1900, 1912, 1920, and 1924. He was also a trustee of Western Maryland College for thirty years and collector of internal revenue for the district of Maryland from 1914 to 1921. Miles died in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and is interred in Manokin Cemetery of Princess Anne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Joshua Weldon 1858 births 1929 deaths University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni People from Somerset County, Maryland Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland People from Princess Anne, Maryland