US Congressman. He was born one of five children (he also had four sisters) to Thomas Sykes and his wife Mary Lawrie Sykes near Sykesville, North Hanover Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, on September 20, 1802. He was educated locally and by private tutors. Following his education, he became a surveyor and conveyancer (a specialist lawyer who specializes in the legal aspects of buying and selling real property). He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Democratic Party, he then served New Jersey's 2nd District (Twenty-Eighth Congress) in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1845. After his term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Samuel Gardiner Wright on March 4, 1845. A Member of the Democratic Party, he was reelected for another term (filling the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative Samuel Gardiner Wright on July 30, 1845), and then served New Jersey's 14th District (Twenty-Ninth Congress) in the United States House of Representatives from November 4, 1845, to March 3, 1847. After his term in the United States Congress expired he was succeeded in office by William Augustus Newell on March 4, 1847. On February 28, 1844, while still in office he was a passenger aboard the USS Princeton when one of its guns exploded killing six, including two members of then-President John Tyler's cabinet. After leaving the United States Congress he resumed his surveyor and conveyancer pursuits for a number of years. He also served as a Member of the Council of Properties of West Jersey, and as a Member of the New Jersey State House of Assembly from Burlington County, New Jersey, from 1877 to 1879. He passed away from tongue cancer at his sister's home on February 25, 1880, at the age of 77, in Upper Springfield, New Jersey, and was buried in Upper Springfield Friends Burying Ground in Wrightstown, New Jersey. He never married or had any children. One of his newspaper obituaries of the time said of him "He was born a Democrat and died in the faith." "His life was a useful one and his loss will be deeply felt by the public."