BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. MEMBERS OF THE FIFTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. SENATORS. JOHN LENDRUM MITCHELL, of Milwaukee, was born in Milwaukee, Wis., October 19, 1842; acquired the rudiments of an education in the Milwaukee public schools, followed by a course in a military school in Hampton, Conn.; he was then sent abroad and studied in Dresden, Munich, and Genoa; upon the breaking out of the rebellion he returned home, and at the age of 19 entered the military service as second lieutenant of Company I, Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Volunteers; promoted to be first lieutenant January 17, 1863, and transferred to Company E, same regiment; in June, 1863, was detailed for service on brigade staff of General Rousseau; participated in the battles and engagements of his regiment, including Perryville, Murfreesboro, Hoovers Gap, and the campaigns about Chattanooga; threatened with loss of eyesight and on surgeon's certificate of disability he resigned his commission, which was accepted; was a member of the State senate of Wisconsin in 1872-73 and 1876-77; president of the Milwaukee school board 1884-85; president of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, and president of the Northwestern Trotting-Horse Breeders' Association; in 1886, by joint resolution of Congress, he was appointed a member of the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, reappointed in 1892, and elected second vice-president of the Board in 1895; was a member of the National Democratic Committee for four years, and in 1892 was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Committee; is vice-president of the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company Bank, and of the Northwestern National Insurance Company; was elected to the fifty-second congress from the Milwaukee district in 1890, and re-elected in 1892, receiving 19,616 votes, against 18,294 for Theobald Otjen, republican; 829 for Theodore Fritz, people's party; 349 for E. L. Eaton, prohibitionist. He was elected as a democrat, to succeed Philetus Sawyer in the United States senate, receiving 77 votes in joint legislative convention, against 46 for John C. Spooner, republican, and 1 for Gen. Edward S. Bragg. His term of office will expire March 4, 1899. JOHN C. SPOONER (Rep.), of Madison, was born January 6, 1843, In Lawrenceburgh, Dearborn county, Indiana; was educated at the University of Wisconsin, from which institution he graduated in 1864; came to Wisconsin June 1, 1859, and settled at Madison; removed from Madison to Hudson, Wis., in September, 1870, where he resided until 1893, when he returned to Madison, where he has since resided; is by profession a lawyer; he entered the war as a private in Co. D, 40th Wis. Inf. Vols.; was Captain of Co. A, 50th Wis. Inf. Vols., and at the close of service was brevetted major; was private and military secretary to Gov. Lucius Fairchild for a time and was assistant attorney general under Attorney Generals Charles R. Gill and S. S. Barlow; was member of legislature from St. Croix county in 1872; he was elected January 28, 1885, to succeed Hon. Angus Cameron as United States senator, serving from March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1891; was nomInated by the republicans for governor of Wisconsin in 1892, but was defeated; he was nominated and elected United States senator January 27, 1897, to succeed Hon. W. F. Vilas, receiving every republican vote in both houses. REPRESENTATIVES. FIRST DISTRICT. Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, Rock, Green and Lafayette countles. Population in 1895-181,142. HENRY ALLEN COOPER (Rep.), of Racine, Wis., was born in Walworth county, Wisconsin; received a common school and collegiate education, graduatIng at the Northwestern University in 1873, and from the Union College of Law In 1875; is by profession a lawyer; resided in Chicago from 1873 to 1879; otherwise has always resided in Wisconsin; began practice in Burlington, Racine county, 'n 1879; in 1880 was elected district attorney; re-elected without opposition in '882 and 1884; delegate to National republican convention in 1884; state senator in 1886; was elected member of the Fifty-third Congress in 1892. In 1894 he was elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress, receiving 21,972 votes, against 12,334 for Andrew Kull, democrat; 2,828 for Hamilton Utley, people's; and 1,615 for Alex. S. Kaye, prohibitionist. In 1896 he was elected to the Fifty-fifth Congress, receiving 28,235 votes, against 14,723 for Jeremiah L. Mahoney, democrat, and 1,084 for George W. White, prohibitionist. SECOND DISTRICT. Jefferson, Dodge, Dane and Columbia counties. Population in 1895-180,705. EDWARD SAUERHERING (Rep.), of Mayville, Dodge county, was born at Mayville, June 24, 1864. He was educated in the Mayville public schools and high school and graduated from the Chicago College of Pharmacy in 1885. His occupation is that of a pharmacist. He was nominated for the assembly from the first district of Dodge county in 1892, but was defeated by the democratic candidate, and was elected to congress in 1894. He ran 130 votes ahead of his ticket in the district, receiving 18,197 votes, against 17,932 for Charles Barwig, democrat, 1.433 for John Sutton, prohibition, and 455 for B. W. Hewitt, populist. In 1896 he was elected to the Fifty-fifth Congress, receiving 24,011 votes, against 17,480 for William H. Rogers, democrat, and 1,025 for Jesse Meyers, prohibitionist. THIRD DISTRICT. Grant, Iowa, Crawford, Richland, Sauk, Vernon, Juneau and Adams counties. Population in 1895-184,881. JOSEPH WEEKS BABCOCK, of Necedah, was born in Swanton, Vt., March 6, 1850; removed with his parents to Iowa in 1855; was educated at Mount Vernon and Cedar Falls; removed from Iowa in 1881, and settled at Necedah, where he has since resided, being engaged in the manufacture of lumber; was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 1888, and served as chairman of the Committee on Incorporations, and was re-elected in 1890; was elected chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee in 1894, and re-elected in 1896; was elected to the Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Congresses, and re-elected to the Fifty-fifth Congress as a republican, receiving 26,691 votes, against 15,168 votes for A. J. Davis, fusion democrat. |