James W. Nye

James W. Nye
United States Senator from Nevada
In office December 16, 1864 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	John P. Jones
Governor of Nevada Territory
In office March 2, 1861 – December 5, 1864
Preceded by	Isaac Roop as Provisional Governor
Succeeded by	Henry G. Blasdel as state Governor
Personal details
Born	June 10, 1815 DeRuyter (town), New York, US
Died	December 25, 1876 (aged 61) White Plains, New York, US
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery The Bronx, New York City, New York, US
Political party	Republican Free Soil (1840s)
Profession	Attorney

James Warren Nye (June 10, 1815 – December 25, 1876) was a United States Senator from Nevada.

Biography

He was born in DeRuyter, New York, he attended the common schools and Homer Academy in Homer, New York; he studied law in Troy, New York, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Madison County.

Nye was district attorney in 1839 and served as judge of Madison County from 1840 to 1848. He was an unsuccessful Free-Soiler candidate for election to the Thirtieth Congress in 1846, and was first president of New York City's Metropolitan Board of Police, holding that position from 1857 to 1860.

In 1861, Nye was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Governor of the newly created Nevada Territory; upon the admission of Nevada as a state into the Union in 1864, he was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate; he was reelected in 1867 and served from December 16, 1864 to March 3, 1873. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. While in the Senate, Nye was chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills (Thirty-ninth Congress) and a member of the Committees on Revolutionary Claims (Fortieth Congress) and Territories (Forty-first Congress).

Mark Twain was briefly Senator Nye's secretary. In Sketches Old and New he gives an account of their parting, which occurred after Twain supposedly wrote ridiculous letters to constituents, following the Senator's orders not to address controversial issues.

He died in White Plains, New York in 1876 and was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City.

Nye County, Nevada, the largest county in Nevada, third largest after San Bernardino County, California and Coconino County, Arizona in the 48 contiguous states, was named after Nye.

References

External links

• United States Congress. "James W. Nye (id: N000177)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

James W. Nye at Find a Grave Retrieved on 2009-5-12

• Welcome to Nye County, Nevada
• Mark Twain MY LATE SENATORIAL SECRETARYSHIP

Carl Schurz and his Senate neighbor, James Nye, in a political cartoon from Harper's Weekly