William G. Laidlaw

Who was William G. Laidlaw?

William Grant Laidlaw was a U.S. Representative from New York.

Born near Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland, Laidlaw immigrated to the United States in 1852 with his parents, who settled in Franklinville, New York. He attended the common schools and Ten Broek Free Academy at Franklinville. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and practiced. He served two years in the United States Navy during the Civil War. School commissioner of the first district of Cattaraugus County 1867-1870. He moved to Ellicottville, New York, in 1870. Assessor of internal revenue of the thirty-first collection district of New York 1871-1877. He served as district attorney of Cattaraugus County 1877-1883.

Laidlaw was elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Claims. He resumed the practice of his profession in Ellicottville, New York, and died there on August 19, 1908. He was interred in Sunset Hill Cemetery.