John O. Whitehouse

Who was John O. Whitehouse?

John Osborne Whitehouse was a U.S. Representative from New York.

Born in Rochester, New Hampshire, Whitehouse received a common-school education. He moved to New York City in 1835 and was engaged as a clerk until 1839, when he moved to Brooklyn, New York, and engaged as a merchant and manufacturer of shoes. He moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1860 and continued the shoe manufacturing business.

Whitehouse was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1876 to the Forty-fifth Congress. He resumed the shoe manufacturing business. He was also interested in banking and railroading. He was owner of the Daily News 1872-1880. He died in Poughkeepsie, New York, August 24, 1881. He was interred in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.