Robert McClelland (Congressional Biographical Directory)

McCLELLAND, Robert, a Representative from Michigan; born in Greencastle, Franklin County, Pa., August 1, 1807; was graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1829; engaged in teaching; studied law; was admitted to the bar in Chambersburg, Pa., in 1832; moved to Pittsburgh, Pa., and thence, in February 1833 to Monroe, Mich., and engaged in the practice of law; delegate to the convention called to frame a constitution for the proposed State of Michigan in 1835 and to the State constitutional conventions in 1850 and 1867; member of the board of regents of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1837 and 1850; member of the State house of representatives in 1837, 1839, and 1843, in the latter year being chosen speaker; mayor of Monroe in 1841; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1849); chairman, Committee on Commerce (Twenty-ninth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1848; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1848, 1852, and 1868; delegate to the Democratic State convention in 1850; Governor of Michigan 1851-1853; resigned to accept appointment as Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Pierce March 7, 1853, and served until March 6, 1857; resumed the practice of law in Detroit, Mich., where he died August 30, 1880; interment in Elmwood Cemetery.