Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Kidwell, Zedekiah

KIDWELL, Zedekiah, physician, b. in Fairfax county, Va., 4 Jan., 1814; d. in Fairmount, Va., 27 April, 1872. He was educated by his father, who was a civil engineer, and also studied at Jefferson medical college, Philadelphia, where he was graduated in 1839. After practising for several years he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849, and practised in Fairmount, Va. He served in the state house of representatives, was a delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1849, and a presidential elector on the Pierce and King ticket in 1852. He was a representative in congress from 1853 till 1857, having been chosen as a Democrat, and was then elected one of the three commissioners that formed the Virginia board of public works, serving for several years. From 1861 until the close of the civil war he held a civil office near Richmond.