ALDRICH, William Farrington (brother of Truman
Heminway Aldrich and great, great grandfather of William
J. Edwards), a Representative from Alabama; born in Palmyra, Wayne County, N.Y., March 11, 1853; attended the
public schools of his native city; moved with his father to
New York City in 1865; attended several schools, and was
graduated from Warren’s Military Academy in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1873; moved to Alabama in 1874; engaged
in mining and manufacturing; built up the town that bears
his name; successfully contested as a Republican the election
of Gaston A. Robbins to the Fifty-fourth Congress and served
from March 13, 1896, to March 3, 1897; successfully contested the election of Thomas S. Plowman to the Fifty-fifth
Congress and served from February 9, 1898, to March 3,
1899; again successfully contested the election of Gaston
A. Robbins to the Fifty-sixth Congress and served from
March 8, 1900, to March 3, 1901; declined to be a candidate
for renomination in 1900; editor, owner, and publisher of
the Birmingham (Ala.) Times; delegate to the Republican
National Convention at Chicago in 1904; engaged in the
development of mineral lands until his death in Birmingham, Ala., October 30, 1925; the remains were cremated and deposited in the family vault in Rock Creek
Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
