Clement Hall Sinnickson

Clement Hall Sinnickson (September 16, 1834 – July 24, 1919) was an American lawyer, Civil War officer, jurist, and Republican Party politician who represented New Jersey’s 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1875 to 1879. A member of a prominent New Jersey family, he was the grandnephew of Thomas Sinnickson, who had also served as a Representative from New Jersey in an earlier generation, thereby extending a family tradition of public service at the national level.

Sinnickson was born in Salem, Salem County, New Jersey, on September 16, 1834. He was educated in local private schools before pursuing technical and collegiate studies. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and subsequently enrolled at Union College in Schenectady, New York. He graduated from Union College in 1855. During his time at Union, he became a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, an affiliation that reflected his engagement in collegiate social and intellectual life and connected him with a broader network of contemporaries who would go on to careers in law, politics, and public affairs.

Following his graduation, Sinnickson turned to the study of law. He read law in New Jersey and was admitted to the bar in 1858. He then commenced the practice of law in his native Salem, establishing himself as a local attorney in a period marked by increasing sectional tensions in the United States. His early legal career placed him within the civic and commercial life of Salem County, where he developed the professional standing and community ties that would later support his entry into public office.

During the American Civil War, Sinnickson served in the Union Army, holding the rank of captain. His military service, undertaken while New Jersey contributed troops and resources to the Union cause, added to his public reputation and aligned him with the generation of veterans who would play a significant role in postwar politics. Although detailed records of his specific unit assignments and campaigns are not included in the surviving summaries of his life, his rank as captain indicates a position of responsibility and leadership within the volunteer forces.

After the war, Sinnickson resumed his legal practice in Salem and became increasingly active in Republican Party politics. He was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses, representing New Jersey’s 1st congressional district. His term of service in the House of Representatives extended from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1879, encompassing the later years of the Reconstruction era and the beginning of the Gilded Age. During these two consecutive terms, he participated in the legislative work of the House at a time when issues of reconstruction policy, civil service, economic development, and veterans’ affairs were prominent, although the available biographical summaries do not enumerate specific committee assignments or sponsored legislation.

At the conclusion of his second term, Sinnickson declined or was not returned for further service and left Congress on March 3, 1879. He returned to Salem and resumed the practice of law, continuing his involvement in public affairs through party and judicial service. In 1880 he served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, taking part in the national deliberations that shaped the party’s presidential ticket and platform in a closely contested political environment. His continued prominence within the party and the legal community in New Jersey led to later judicial responsibilities.

In 1896 Sinnickson was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a key trial court in New Jersey’s judicial system. His performance in that role earned him reappointment in 1901 and again in 1906, reflecting sustained confidence in his judgment and legal ability. As a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, he would have presided over a broad range of civil and criminal matters, contributing to the administration of justice in Salem County and the surrounding region during a period of social and economic change at the turn of the twentieth century.

Clement Hall Sinnickson remained a resident of Salem throughout his life and maintained his professional and civic activities there into his later years. He died in Salem, New Jersey, on July 24, 1919. He was interred at St. John’s Episcopal Cemetery in Salem, a burial place consistent with his longstanding ties to the community in which he was born, practiced law, served on the bench, and from which he rose to national office.