Sam R. Sells
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sam Riley Sells was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 1st congressional district of Tennessee. He was born on August 2, 1871 in Bristol, Tennessee in Sullivan County. He attended the rural schools and King College in Bristol, Tennessee from 1895 to 1890. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Blountville, Tennessee. He served as a private in Company F, Third Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War. He moved to Johnson City, Tennessee and engaged in the lumber business.
Sam Sells was a member of the Tennessee Senate from 1909 to 1911. He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-second and to the four succeeding Congresses. He served from March 4, 1911 to March 3, 1921, and was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1920. During the Sixty-sixth Congress, he was the chairman of the United States House Committee on Pensions.
He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1912 and 1916. He resumed the lumber business in Johnson City, Tennessee. He also engaged in the manufacturing of shale brick and in numerous other enterprises. He died in Johnson City, Tennessee on November 2, 1935. He was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery.
