Zachariah Chandler
U. S. Senator, Michigan, 1857-1875; 1879
U. S. Secretary of the Interior, 1875-1877
Born: December 10, 1813, Bedford, New Hampshire.
Died: November 1, 1879, Chicago, Illinois.
- Attended the common schools.
- Taught school.
- Moved to Detroit, Michigan, December 1833, and engaged in mercantile pursuits.
- Mayor of Detroit, Michigan, 1851.
- Unsuccessful Whig candidate for Governor of Michigan, 1852.
- Was prominent in the organization of the Republican Party in 1854.
- Elected from Michigan as a Republican to the U. S. Senate, 1857.
- Re-elected in 1863 and again in 1869, serving from March 4, 1857 - March 3, 1875.
- Unsuccessful candidate for re-election, 1874.
- Appointed U. S. Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of U. S. President Grant, serving from October 19, 1875 - March 3, 1877.
- Chairman of the Republican National Executive Committee in 1868 and 1876.
- Again elected from Michigan in 1879 to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Isaac P. Christiancy, serving from February 22, 1879, until his death while on a speaking tour in Chicago, Illinois, on November 1, 1879.
Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan.
(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.)