Up for sale is a beautiful and rare photo portrait of James Brooks, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York (1849-1853, 1863-1873). He was a Maine native, a famed newspaperman and very involved in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. This cabinet card is a photo print from famed photographer Matthew Brady and has only one mark on it: the identification in pencil on the card under the photo that reads "Hon. Jas. Brooks." The card measures 6 3/8" tall by 5 1/4" wide. A wonderful cabinet card in very good condition for an 150-year-old-photo. If you have any questions, please email me and thank you for looking!

Some background on James Brooks:

 James Brooks (1809-1873) was a teacher, newspaper correspondent and editor, congressman, and railroad director. He attended public schools in Portland, Maine, before entering the Monmouth Academy in Monmouth, Maine. When he was sixteen years old, he taught school in Lewiston, Maine. He entered Waterville College in Waterville, Maine at age eighteen, graduated in 1832, and then studied law while editing the Portland Advertiser. In 1832, he was also the Advertiser's Washington correspondent. Brooks served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1835. In 1836, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for election to U.S. Congress and moved to New York City, where he started the New York Daily Express, a Whig paper, with his brother Erastus Brooks. James Brooks remained the paper's editor-in-chief throughout his life. In 1842, he married Mary Louisa Randolph, a niece of William Henry Harrison. They had at least two children together. In 1847, he served in the New York State Assembly. He was elected as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving in both the Thirty-First and Thirty-Second Congresses (March 1849 - March 1853). When he lost reelection in 1852, Brooks returned to editorial work full time. In 1860, he had real estate valued at $20,000. In 1863, he was elected as a Democrat back to the House, serving the Thirty-Eighth Congress (March 1863 - March 1865). He won election to the Thirty-Ninth Congress, but only served from March 4, 1865 to April 7, 1866, as William E. Dodge contested the election and succeeded him in the Thirty-Ninth Congress. Brooks continued editing the New York Daily Express until his death. He died of a fever contracted while traveling in Asia.