Rockwell, Julius

Born: 1805-04-26 Colebrook, Connecticut

Died: 1888-05-19 Lenox, Massachusetts

Rockwell attended private schools and graduated from Yale College in 1826. He studied law, earned admittance to the Massachusetts bar, and started a practice in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1830. He served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, from 1834 to 1838, serving three years as speaker. He worked as the state bank commissioner, from 1838 to 1840. Rockwell won election, as a Whig, to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1843 to 1851. He served alongside Abraham Lincoln during the Thirtieth Congress. He was a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention in 1853. He earned appointment to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy in 1854, serving until 1855. Rockwell served as a presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1856. He returned to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1858, serving as speaker. He earned appointment to judge of the superior court of Massachusetts in 1859, a position he held until his resignation in 1886.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1747; Gravestone, Church On the Hill Cemetery, Lenox, MA.