William Henry Sowden (June 6, 1840 – March 3, 1907) was aDemocratic member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania.

William H. Sowden was born inLiskeard,Cornwall. He emigrated to theUnited States in 1846 with his father, who settled inPhiladelphia, and later went to live with friends inAllentown, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools andAllentown Academy.

During theAmerican Civil War, he served as a corporal in Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served from August 13, 1862, to May 19, 1863. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1864, and after graduation fromHarvard Law School in 1865 commenced practice in Allentown. He served as solicitor ofLehigh County, Pennsylvania, in 1868 and district attorney in 1872 through 1874. He was an unsuccessful candidate forLieutenant Governor in 1874 and an unsuccessful candidate for election to Congress in 1876. He was a delegate to the1884 Democratic National Convention, and served as city solicitor of Allentown in 1886.

Sowden was elected as a Democrat to theForty-ninth andFiftieth Congresses. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1888. He resumed the practice of law, and served as city solicitor of Allentown from 1900 to 1902. He was a delegate to the1900 Democratic National Convention. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate to theFifty-ninth Congress in 1904. He was elected assolicitor of Lehigh County in 1906, and died in Allentown in 1907. Interment in Union Cemetery.

In May 1888, his daughter married James L. Pugh, Jr, the son of U.S. senator from Alabama,James L. Pugh. Mrs James L. Pugh, Jr. was born in Allentown and studied at the Allentown Female College in 1884 and afterward attended the Luthervillw Female Seminary, near Baltimore.^[1]

• United States Congress."William H. Sowden (id: S000692)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-14
• The Political Graveyard

Specific

• "William H. Sowden".Find a Grave. Retrieved2008-02-14.

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