Francis G. Newlands
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| Francis G. Newlands | |
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| In office March 4, 1903 – December 24, 1917 |
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| Preceded by | John P. Jones |
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| Succeeded by | Charles B. Henderson |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada's At-Large district
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| In office March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1903 |
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| Preceded by | Horace F. Bartine |
| Succeeded by | Clarence D. Van Duzer |
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| Born | August 28, 1848 Natchez, Mississippi |
| Died | December 24, 1917 (aged 69) Washington, D.C. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence | Reno |
| Profession | Attorney |
Francis Griffith Newlands was born in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi on August 28, 1848, the son of James Birney Newlands (Scotland – Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, 1851) and wife Jessie Barland (Scotland – living in 1867), who remarried Ebenezer Moore, Mayor of Quincy, Illinois, who died in October 1866.
He studied at Yale University and the Columbian College Law School (now The George Washington University Law School), Washington, D.C. and was admitted to the bar in 1869. He moved to San Francisco, California in 1870 and came to work for William Sharon, one of the discoverers of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Storey County, Nevada, who was also Newlands's father-in-law, marrying at San Francisco, California, 19 November 1874 his daughter Clara Adelaide Sharon (San Francisco, California, 1854 – San Francisco, California, 17 February 1882). Their daughter Frances Newlands (San Francisco, California, 21 November 1880 – Berlin, 21 August 1907) married at Washington, DC, 6 May 1905 Leopold Waldemar von Bredow (Bredow bei Nauen, 31 October 1875 – Lausanne, 1 October 1933), and they were the maternal grandparents of Chris Strachwitz.
In 1888 he moved to Nevada to serve Sharon's interests and continued to practice law. He served as a Democratic Representative for Nevada between 1893 and 1903.
While a congressman, he wrote the Newlands Resolution, which was an act of the United States Congress to annex the Republic of Hawai'i and create the Territory of Hawai'i.
It was approved on July 4, 1898 and signed on July 7 by President of the United States William McKinley. Newlands became well known for his support of irrigation, land reclamation as well as free silver. Newlands is most famous for the 1902 Newlands Reclamation Act, which funded irrigation projects throughout much of the American West.
Later he became a Democratic United States Senator for Nevada in 1903 and served until his death at Washington, DC on 24 December 1917.
Newlands's former mansion in Reno would later become a local landmark. Many famous people, such as Barbara Hutton in 1935, stayed at the house while awaiting their divorce paperwork to be finalized by George Thatcher, a local lawyer who had purchased the building.
In the late 1880s, Newlands and his partners began the aggressive acquisition of farmland in northwestern Washington, D.C. and southern Montgomery County, Maryland, for the purpose of developing a residential streetcar suburb for Washington, DC. (See Washington streetcars.) They founded the Chevy Chase Land Company in 1890, and its eventual holdings are now known as Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C. and Chevy Chase, Maryland.
[edit] References
| Preceded by John P. Jones |
United States Senator (Class 3) from Nevada 1903–1917 Served alongside: William M. Stewart, George S. Nixon, William A. Massey, Key Pittman |
Succeeded by Charles B. Henderson |
| Preceded by Moses E. Clapp Minnesota |
Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce 1913–1917 |
Succeeded by Ellison D. Smith South Carolina |
| Preceded by Horace F. Bartine |
United States House of Representatives, Nevada At-Large 1893–1903 |
Succeeded by Clarence D. Van Duzer |
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