Dwight Townsend

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Dwight Townsend

| image = Dwight Townsend (New York Congressman).jpg

| alt = Mathew Brady photo, circa 1871. National Archives and Records Administration.

| state = New York

| district = 1st

| term_start1 = December 5, 1864

| term_end1 = March 3, 1865

| predecessor1 = Henry G. Stebbins

| successor1 = Stephen Taber

| term_start = March 4, 1871

| term_end = March 3, 1873

| predecessor = Henry A. Reeves

| successor = Henry J. Scudder

| birth_date = {{birth date|1826|9|26}}

| birth_place = New York City, New York, United States

| death_date = {{death date and age|1899|10|29|1826|9|26}}

| death_place = New York City, New York, United States

| resting_place = Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, United States

| party = Democrat

| education = Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School

| occupation = Businessman

}}

Dwight Townsend (September 26, 1826 – October 29, 1899) was a U.S. Representative from New York. He became chairman of the Bankers' and Merchants' Telegraph Company, competitor of the Western Union

Biography

Born in New York City, Townsend was educated at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School.{{cite book |author=Joint Committee on Printing, U.S. Congress |date=1928 |title=Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1927 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8lAs_QeKkkC&pg=PA1623 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=1623 |via=Google Books}} He worked in the sugar refining business, and was active in other ventures including the Equitable Life Assurance Society and the Bankers' and Merchants' Telegraph Company.Ohio Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yxY-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1170 Annual Report], 1888, page 1170The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer, [https://books.google.com/books?id=u-koAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA297 Death notice, Dwight Townsend], November 4, 1899, page 297Equitable Life Assurance Society, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wTY5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA19 The First Fifty Years of the Equitable Life Assurance Society], 1909, page 19

Townsend was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Henry G. Stebbins and served from December 5, 1864, to March 3, 1865. During this term, Townsend voted "nay" (the minority position) on the question of adopting the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.{{cite book |editor-last=Hart |editor-first=Albert Bushnell |date=1901 |title=American History Told by Contemporaries: Welding of the Nation, 1845-1900 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanhistory03hartgoog |location=New York, NY |publisher=The MacMillan Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanhistory03hartgoog/page/n490 467]}}

Townsend was elected to the Forty-second Congress (March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873). He did not run for reelection, and resumed his former business pursuits.

Death and burial

He died in New York City on October 29, 1899.New York Times, [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/10/30/100457619.pdf Death List of a Day: Dwight Townsend], October 30, 1899 He was interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.