Julius Rockwell (April 26, 1805May 19, 1888) was a United States politician from
Massachusetts
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, and the father of
Francis Williams Rockwell.
Rockwell was born in
Colebrook, Connecticut
Colebrook is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,361 at the 2020 census. Colebrook was named after Colebrooke in the English county of Devon; the reason is now unknown.
Geography
Colebrook is in northea ...
and educated at private schools and then
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
, where he studied law, graduating in 1826. He was admitted to the
bar and in 1830 commenced practice in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...
. He was elected a member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
in 1834 and served four years, three of them as
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
. Rockwell was appointed commissioner of the
Bank of Massachusetts
BankBoston was a bank based in Boston, Massachusetts, which was created by the 1996 merger of Bank of Boston and BayBank. One of its predecessor banks started in 1784, but the merged BankBoston was short-lived, being acquired by Fleet Bank in 199 ...
from 1838 to 1840.
In 1842 he successfully ran as a
Whig candidate for the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and was re-elected three times, serving from 1843 to 1851. He did not seek renomination in 1850. He was a delegate to the state
constitutional convention in 1853, and was appointed to the
Senate in 1854 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
Edward Everett
Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mass ...
, serving from June 3, 1854 to January 31, 1855, when his successor
Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...
was elected. Rockwell voted in the
electoral college for the
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
candidate
John C. Frémont in the
presidential election of 1856.
Rockwell returned to his old post of
Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
This is a list of speakers of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House presides over the House of Representatives. The Speaker is elected by the majority party caucus followed by confirmation of the full House through ...
in 1858, until his appointment to the
Massachusetts Superior Court
The Massachusetts Superior Court (also known as the Superior Court Department of the Trial Court) is a trial court department in Massachusetts.
The Superior Court has original jurisdiction in civil actions over $50,000, and in matters where equit ...
in 1859.
He retired as a judge in 1886 and died May 19, 1888 in
Lenox, Massachusetts, where he is buried.
See also
*
56th Massachusetts General Court (1835)
*
79th Massachusetts General Court (1858)
References
External links
Speakers of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
United States senators from Massachusetts
Yale University alumni
1805 births
1888 deaths
Politicians from Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Whig Party United States senators
Massachusetts state senators
Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
Burials in Massachusetts
1856 United States presidential electors
Massachusetts Superior Court justices
19th-century American politicians
19th-century American judges
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