GROW, Galusha Aaron, a Representative
from Pennsylvania; born in Ashford (now Eastford), Windham County, Conn., August
31, 1823; moved to Glenwood, Susquehanna County, Pa., in May 1834; attended the
common schools and Franklin Academy, Susquehanna County; was graduated from
Amherst College, Amherst, Mass., in 1844; studied law; was admitted to the bar
of Susquehanna County in 1847 and practiced; elected as a Democrat to the
Thirty-second, Thirty-third, and Thirty-fourth Congresses and as a Republican to
the Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, and Thirty-seventh Congresses (March 4,
1851-March 3, 1863); chairman, Committee on Territories (Thirty-fourth and
Thirty-sixth Congresses); unsuccessful Republican nominee for Speaker in 1857;
Speaker of the House of Representatives (Thirty-seventh Congress); delegate to
the Republican National Conventions in 1864, 1884, and 1892; president of the
Houston & Great Northern Railroad Co. of Texas 1871-1876; returned to
Pennsylvania and engaged in lumber, oil, and soft-coal pursuits; elected as a
Republican to the Fifty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death
of William Lilly; reelected to the Fifty-fourth and to the three succeeding
Congresses and served from February 26, 1894, to March 3, 1903; chairman,
Committee on Education (Fifty-fourth through Fifty-seventh Congresses); declined
a renomination in 1902; died in Glenwood, near Scranton, Pa., March 31, 1907;
interment in Harford Cemetery, Harford, Pa.
Bibliography
DAB; Dubois, James T., and Gertrude S. Mathews. Galusha A. Grow,
Father of the Homestead Law. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917.
-- Biographical
Data courtesy of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.