Part VIII. Biographical Sketches
- Members of the Sixtieth Congress
Representatives [pp. 1116-1119]
First Congressional District. Green, Kenosha, Lafayette,
Racine, Rock and Walworth Counties. Population, 1900 - 191,491.
HENRY ALLEN COOPER (Rep.), of Racine, was born at Spring
Prairie, Walworth county, Wisconsin, September 8,
1850; graduated from Northwestern University in 1873, and
from Union College of Law, Chicago (now Law School of N.W. University)
in 1875; is by profession a lawyer; resided in Chicago from 1873
to 1879; otherwise has always lived in Wisconsin; in 1880 was
elected district attorney of Racine county, and re-elected without
opposition in 1882 and in 1884; state senator in 1886; author
of the law which first established the Australian ballot system
in Wisconsin; was elected representative in congress in 1892,
1894, 1896, 1898, 1900, 1902, 1904 and again in 1906, receiving
16,226 votes against 8,818 for John J. Cunningham (Dem.) and
1,504 for Moses Hull (Soc. Dem.).
Second Congressional District. Adams, Dane, Green
Lake, Jefferson and Marquette [Counties]. Population, 1900 -
170,792.
JOHN MANDT NELSON (Rep.), of Madison, was born in the town
of Burke, Dane county, Wis., Oct. 10, 1870;
received a collegiate education, graduating from the University
of Wisconsin in June, 1892; was elected superintendent of schools
in Dane county in 1892 and re-elected in 1894; resigned to accept
the position of bookkeeper in the office of the secretary of
state, where he served from 1894-1897; edited The State 1897-1898;
correspondent in state treasury 1898-1902; was graduated from
the law department of the state university 1896; pursued post-graduate
studies at the state university 1901-1903; is married; has practiced
law the past four years; was a member of the Republican State
Central Committee 1902-1906; was elected to fifty-ninth congress
September 4, 1906, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Hon. H. C. Adams, and re-elected November 6, to the sixtieth
congress, receiving 14,806 votes to 12,881 for George W. Levis
(Dem.), 724 for William L. Dibble (Pro.) and 354 for W. A. Hall,
Sr. (Soc. Dem.).
Third Congressional District. Crawford, Grant, Iowa,
Juneau, Richland, Sauk and Vernon Counties. Population 1900 -
180,750.
JAMES WILLIAM MURPHY (Dem.), of Platteville, Wis., was born
at Platteville April 17, 1858; was graduated from
the state normal school at Platteville in 1873; taught school
for five years; was graduated from the law department of the
University of Michigan in 1880; has practiced law at Platteville
26 years, serving four as district attorney of Grant county;
was elected mayor of Platteville in 1904 and 1906; he has for
many years been interested in lead and zinc mining in Wisconsin;
was married in 1881 and has four children. He was elected to
the 60th congress, receiving 14,701 votes against 13,690 for
Joseph Weeks Babcock (Rep.) and 934 for Herbert J. Noyes (Pro.).
Fourth Congressional District. The 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th,
7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 23d wards of
the city of Milwaukee and the towns of Franklin, Greenfield,
Lake, Oak Creek and Wauwatosa, the village of Cudahy, the cities
of South Milwaukee, West Allis and Wauwatosa in Milwaukee county.
Population 1900 - 183,540.
WILLIAM JOSEPH CARY (Rep.) was born March 22, 1865, at Milwaukee,
Wis. At the age of thirteen he was left an
orphan, with four younger sisters and a brother. The five
younger children were placed in an orphan asylum, and young CARY
went to work as a cash-boy in Chapman's store. He left to become
a telegraph messenger, and at the age of eighteen he became a
full fledged operator, having studied the key after hours, and
when not running messages. At nineteen he had saved enough money
to take the four younger children from the asylum, and give them
a home of their own. In 1900 he was elected alderman from his
ward, on account of the demand for a reform representative, and
in 1902 was re-elected. In 1904 he was elected sheriff of Milwaukee
county, and in 1906 was elected congressman to succeed Theobald
Otjen, who had held the office in the fourth district for twelve
years, receiving 12,231 votes against 8,759 votes for Edmund
J. Melms (Soc. Dem.) and 8,656 votes for Thomas J. Fleming (Dem.).
Fifth Congressional District. The 1st, 6th, 10th,
13th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22d wards of the city of Milwaukee,
the towns of Granville and Milwaukee, the villages of East Milwaukee,
North Milwaukee and Whitefish Bay, in Milwaukee county, and the
county of Waukesha. Population, 1900 - 181,706.
WILLIAM H. STAFFORD(Rep.), the representative from
the fifth congressional district, is a native of Milwaukee. He
attended the Milwaukee public schools, and later attended
Harvard college and Harvard law school, from which he was graduated.
At the time of his election to congress he was in the active
practice of law in Milwaukee. He was elected to the fifty-eighth
congress, and re-elected to the fifty-ninth and to the sixtieth
congress, receiving 13,948 votes against 8,870 for Albert J.
Welch (Soc. Dem.), 8192 for J. G. Donnelly (Dem.) and 506 for
Chas. T. Everett (Pro.).
Sixth Congressional District. Dodge, Fond du Lac,
Ozaukee, Sheboygan and Washington counties. Population, 1900
- 184,517.
CHAS. H. WEISSE (Dem.) was born in Sheboygan Falls, Oct.
24, 1866; received his education in the parochial and
high schools of his native city; entered his father's tannery
in 1880 and became a partner in the firm of Chas. S. Weisse &
Co., tanners and curriers, in 1888; was elected president of
the village of Sheboygan Falls in 1893 and re-elected for three
successive terms; served three years as treasurer of school board
of Sheboygan Falls; chosen as delegate-at-large to the democratic
national convention at St. Louis, in 1904; member of the campaign
committee of the national democratic congressional committee,
1906; was elected to the 58th congress in 1902, to the 59th congress
in 1904; re-elected to congress in 1906, by a plurality of 8,934,
receiving 19,446 votes against 10,512 for Alvin Dreger (Rep.)
and 764 for A. Damrow (Soc. Dem.).
Seventh Congressional District. Buffalo, Eau Claire,
Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Pepin and Trempealeau counties. Population,
1900 - 193,890.
JOHN JACOB ESCH (Rep.), of La Crosse, was born near Norwalk,
Monroe county, Wis., March 20, 1861. He was
educated in the public schools of Milwaukee and Sparta, Wis.;
entered the state university in 1878, and graduated from the
modern classical course in 1882. The next four years he spent
in reading law and teaching at Sparta; was offered the principalship
of the high school, but declined and entered the university law
school, graduating in the class of 1887. From this time to the
present he has been engaged in the practice of law at La Crosse
as a member of the firm of Winter & Esch. In 1883 he organized
the Sparta Rifles, afterwards known as Co. I, 3rd Regiment W.N.G.,
and was at one time its captain. He also helped organize the
Gateway City Guards of La Crosse, now Co. M, 3rd Regiment W.N.G.
Never held but one office, that of city treasurer of Sparta,
and this for only one year. Has always been a republican. Was
elected to the 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th and 60th congresses, receiving
18,042 votes against 6,779 for Chas. F. Hille (Dem.).
JAMES H. DAVIDSON (Rep.), of Ohskosh, was born in Colchester,
Delaware county, New York, June 18th, 1858;
was educated in the public schools and at Walton (New York)
Academy; taught school, studied law, graduated from Albany Law
School as president of the class in 1884, and was in the same
year admitted to the bar of New York; subsequently moved to Wisconsin
and commenced the practice of law at Princeton in 1887; in 1892
removed to Oshkosh and continued the practice of law; in 1895
was appointed city attorney; was chairman of the republican congressional
committee from 1890 to 1896; was elected to the 55th, 56th, 57th,
58th, 59th and 60th congresses, receiving 16,966 votes against
9,549 for John E. McMullen (Dem.), 1,103 for J. J. Pitz (Soc.),
700 for Chas. H. Forward (Pro.) and 54 for Wm. M. Minehan (Ind.
Rep.).
GUSTAV KUSTERMANN (Rep.), of Green Bay, was born in Detmold,
Germany, May 24, 1850; received his
education at the academy of his native city (Gymnasium Leopoldinum),
from which he was graduated in 1864. After having been employed
for several years in a wholesale dry goods house in Hamburg,
Germany, he emigrated to the United States in 1868, settling
in Green Bay, Wis., where he and his family still reside and
where for over thirty years he has been engaged in the mercantile
business. He has held various public positions, and from 1892
to 1896 served as postmaster of Green Bay. In 1901 he received
the appointment as member of the state board of control, of which
he became president in 1904. He was elected to the 60th congress
in 1906, receiving 14,180 votes against 8,689 for Philip A. Badour
(Dem.) and 547 for Joseph E. Harris (Soc. Dem.).
Tenth Congressional District. Ashland, Florence, Forest,
Iron, Langlade, Marathon, Oneida, Price, Shawano, Taylor, Vilas
and Wood Counties. Population in 1900 - 190,975.
ELMER A. MORSE (Rep.), of Antigo, Wisconsin, was born in
Racine county in 1870; was educated in the common
schools of Racine county; graduated from Ripon College in
1893, then served four years as superintendent of Schools of
Racine county; entered the law school at Wisconsin University
and was admitted to the bar in 1900. He commenced practicing
law in the city of Antigo in the year 1900 and has been actively
engaged in the practice since that time. He served two terms
as city attorney for the city of Antigo resigning during third
term. He has always resided in Wisconsin. He was elected member
of the 60th congress in 1906, receiving 20,225 votes against
10,669 for D. Conway (Dem.) and 913 for J. Cox (Soc. Dem.).
Eleventh Congressional District. Barron, Bayfield,
Burnett, Chippewa, Douglas, Dunn, Pierce, Polk, Rusk, St. Croix,
Sawyer and Washburn counties. Population in 1900 - 217,650.
JOHN J. JENKINS (Rep.), of Chippewa Falls, was born in Weymouth,
England, August 20th, 1843, settled in
Baraboo, June 1852, attended the common schools for a few
terms, served during the Civil War in Company A, 6th Wisconsin
Infantry. Member of the assembly from Chippewa county, county
judge of Chippewa county, appointed United States Attorney for
the Territory of Wyoming by President Grant, march 1876. Elected
to the 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th and 60th congresses,
receiving 19,002 votes against 5,146 for J. Maguire (Dem.) and
1,213 for C. W. Swanson (Soc. Dem.).