“The U.S. House of Representatives - Portraits of Congreemen” (detail), Once a Week newspaper, 1891, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

BREWER, Mark Spencer, a Representative from Michigan; born in Addison Township, Oakland County, Mich., October 22, 1837; attended the rural schools and Romeo and Oxford Academies; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1864 and commenced practice in Pontiac, Mich.; city attorney of Pontiac in 1866 and 1867; circuit court commissioner for Oakland County 1866-1869; member of the State senate 1872-1874; elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1881); appointed consul general to Berlin on June 30, 1881, by President Garfield and served from August 29, 1881, until June 7, 1885; elected to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1891); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1890; resumed the practice of law in Pontiac, Mich.; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1896; appointed a member of the United States Civil Service Commission by President William McKinley January 18, 1898, and served until his death in Washington, D.C., March 18, 1901; interment in Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, Mich.