Tristam Burges

Tristam Burges
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Rhode Island's At-large district
In office March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1835
Preceded by	Samuel Eddy
Succeeded by	William Sprague III
Personal details
Born	(1770-02-26)February 26, 1770 Rochester, Massachusetts
Died	October 13, 1853(1853-10-13) (aged 83) East Providence, Rhode Island
Resting place	North Burial Ground
Political party	Whig
Alma mater	Brown University

Tristam Burges (February 26, 1770 – October 13, 1853) was a U.S. Representative from Rhode Island, and great-great-uncle of Theodore Francis Green.

Born in Rochester, Massachusetts, Burges attended the common schools. He studied medicine at a school in Wrentham. Upon the death of his father he abandoned the study of medicine. He was graduated from Rhode Island College (now Brown University), Providence, Rhode Island, in 1796. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1799 and commenced practice in Providence, Rhode Island. He served as member of the State house of representatives in 1811 and was prominent as a member of the Federal Party. He was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Rhode Island in May 1815. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the same in 1816.

In 1815 Burges was named as professor of oratory and belles letters at Brown University; he taught lectures in rhetoric and oratory. He was dismissed from this position in 1830.^[1]

Burges was elected as an Adams candidate to the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses and elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-first through the Twenty-third Congresses (March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1835). He served as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions (Nineteenth Congress), Committee on Military Pensions (Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses), Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Twenty-first Congress), Committee on Invalid Pensions (Twenty-second and Twenty-third Congresses). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. After an unsuccessful run for Rhode Island Governor as a Whig party candidate in 1836, he resumed the practice of law.

He died on his estate, "Watchemoket Farm" (now a part of East Providence, Rhode Island), October 13, 1853, and was interred in North Burial Ground, Providence, Rhode Island.

Sources

• Tristam Burges at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

External Links

• Tristam Burges at Find a Grave
• Encyclopedia Brunoniana

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.