George Vail (July 21, 1809 – May 23, 1875) was an American Democratic Party politician who represented in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from 1853 to 1857. His father Stephen Vail, and his brother

Alfred Vail Alfred Lewis Vail (September 25, 1807 – January 18, 1859) was an American machinist and inventor. Along with Samuel Morse, Vail was central in developing and commercializing American electrical telegraphy between 1837 and 1844. Vail and Morse ...

were the driving force behind the success of the Speedwell Iron Works. Father and sons assisted in the technical expertise and financial development of this family business. The Vail family contributions to mechanical inventions, early communication, transportation industry, and mass production placed Speedwell at the cutting edge of the

Industrial Revolution in the United States In the United States from the late 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution affected the economy of the United States, U.S. economy, progressing it from manual labor, farm labor and handicraft work, to a greater degree of industrializa ...

Biography

He was born in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, on July 21, 1809, to Stephen Vail. His brother,

, partnered with

Samuel Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After establishing his reputation as a portrait painter, Morse, in his middle age, contributed to the invention of a Electrical telegraph#Morse ...

to invent the telegraph and the

Morse Code Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...

. He completed preparatory studies and attended The Morris Academy in Morristown. George Vail's cousin was Theodore Newton Vail, who became the first president of

American Telephone & Telegraph AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

Vail was a member of the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

in 1843 and 1844, and was appointed by the Governor of New Jersey to represent the State at

The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

in London, England, in 1851. George Vail was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1850 to the Thirty-second Congress. In a political cartoon, George was surrounded by tools, patterns and drawings, with the Iron Works smoking in the background. George Vail was elected as a Democratic Representative for

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, to the Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Congresses, serving in office from March 4, 1853, to March 3, 1857. After his end of term in Congress, Vail was appointed on February 3, 1858, by President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was the 15th president of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. He also served as the United States Secretary of State, secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and represented Pennsylvan ...

, as consul to

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, then served until August 10, 1861. When Vail returned to the United States and settled in Morristown, New Jersey where he engaged in literary pursuits. Vail was also member of the Court of Pardons, and served as a Judge of the

New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals Prior to 1947, the structure of the judiciary in New Jersey was extremely complex, including Court of Errors and Appeals in the last resort in all causes. The Court of Errors and Appeals was the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey from ...

from 1865 to 1871, which was the State of New Jersey's highest Court of Law at the time. Vail died in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, on May 23, 1875, and was interred there in the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

External links

George Vail
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vail, George 1809 births 1875 deaths Vail family Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey New Jersey state court judges Politicians from Morristown, New Jersey Lawyers from Morristown, New Jersey Politicians from Morris County, New Jersey 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature