John Snyder Carlile

U. S. House of Representatives, Virginia, 1855-1857; 1861
U. S. Senator (Unionist), Virginia, 1861-1865

Born: December 16, 1817, Winchester, Virginia.

• Educated by his mother.
  
• Clerked in a store at the age of 14, and when 17 commenced business for himself.
  
• Studied law, was admitted to the bar, 1840, and commenced practice in Beverly, Virginia (now West Virginia), 1842.
  
• Moved to Philippi,Virginia, and later to Clarksburg, Virginia, and continued the practice of law.
  
• Member of the Virginia State Senate, 1847-1851.
  
• Delegate to the Virginia State Constitutional Convention, 1850.
  
• Elected from Virginia as the candidate of the American Party to the Thirty-fourth U. S. Congress, March 4, 1855 - March 3, 1857.
  
• Delegate to the Virginia State Secession Convention, February 1861.
  
• Elected to the Thirty-seventh U. S. Congress, serving from March 4, 1861 - July 9, 1861, when he resigned to become Senator from Virginia.
  
• Elected from Virginia as a Unionist to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Robert M. T. Hunter, serving from July 9, 1861 - to March 3, 1865.
  
• Member of the convention that submitted the new West Virginia State ordinance in August 1861.

Died: October 24, 1878, Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia.
Buried: Odd Fellows Cemetery, Clarksburg, West Virginia.

(Source: U.S. Congress. House. Biographical Directory Of The American Congress 1774-1949, 85th Cong., 2nd sess., H. Doc. 607 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950), pp. 759-2057.)