Edwin H. Conger

Edwin H. Conger

Edwin Hurd Conger (born March 7, 1843 in Knox County , Illinois , †  May 18, 1907 in Pasadena , California ) was an American diplomat and politician . Between 1885 and 1890 he represented the state of Iowa in the US House of Representatives . Conger was also the US ambassador to Brazil , China and Mexico .

Career

Edwin Conger attended Lombard University in Galesburg until 1862 . During the civil war , he rose in the army of the Union from simple soldier to brevet major. After studying law at the Albany Law School in Albany ( New York ) and being admitted to the bar in 1866, he began to practice his new profession in Galesburg. In 1868 he moved to Dexter , Iowa, where he worked in banking and ranching. In 1877 and 1879, Conger was elected Treasurer of Dallas County . He then became Secretary of the Treasury of Iowa in 1880 and 1882.

Conger was a member of the Republican Party . In 1884 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the seventh constituency of Iowa , where he succeeded Hiram Y. Smith on March 4, 1885 . After two re-elections, he could remain in Congress until his resignation on October 3, 1890 . In 1889 and 1890 he was chairman of the Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures .

Conger's resignation came after he was appointed ambassador to Brazil by US President Benjamin Harrison . He was able to hold this office until 1893. The Democratic President Grover Cleveland , who came into office that year , then replaced him with Thomas Larkin Thompson . After the election of Republican William McKinley as president, Conger's diplomatic career continued. In 1897 he replaced Thompson as ambassador to Brazil. In January 1898 he was appointed ambassador to China to succeed Charles Harvey Denby . He held this office until 1905, when he was involved in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 . In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt also transferred him to Mexico as ambassador. He only held this office between March and August 1905. When the President wanted to send him back to China on a special mission, Conger refused this office. He died on May 18, 1907 in Pasadena and was buried there.

Web links

• Edwin H. Conger in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Edwin H. Conger in the database of Find a Grave (English)