George Cookman Sturgiss

George Cookman Sturgiss (1910)

George Cookman Sturgiss (born August 16, 1842 in Poland , Mahoning County , Ohio , †  February 26, 1925 in Morgantown , West Virginia ) was an American politician . Between 1907 and 1911 he represented the second constituency of the state of West Virginia in the US House of Representatives .

Career

George Sturgiss attended public schools in his homeland. In 1859 he moved to Morgantown, which was then still part of Virginia . There he attended the Monongalia Academy . He then worked as a teacher at this school for a short time. After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1863, he began working in his new profession in Morgantown. During the civil war he was employed by the pay office of a volunteer unit. Between 1865 and 1869 he was a school councilor in Monongalia County .

Sturgiss was a member of the Republican Party . Between 1870 and 1872 he was a member of the West Virginia House of Representatives . From 1872 to 1880 he was a district attorney. In 1880 he ran unsuccessfully for governor of West Virginia, where he was clearly defeated by Democrat Jacob B. Jackson . Between 1889 and 1893, Sturgiss was a federal attorney for the West Virginia district. In his state he became the first president of the Trade Committee and the Council for the Improvement of State Roads.

In 1906 Sturgiss was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the second district of West Virginia , where he succeeded Thomas Beall Davis of the Democratic Party on March 4, 1907 . After a re-election, he was able to complete two legislative terms in Congress until March 3, 1911 . In the 1910 election he was defeated by the Democrat William Gay Brown . After serving in Congress, Sturgiss was a curator at American University in the state capital, Washington. He was also instrumental in building the Morgantown & Kingwood Railroad. Between 1912 and 1920 he worked as a district judge and then again as a lawyer. George Sturgiss died on February 26, 1925.

Web links

• George Cookman Sturgiss in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• George Cookman Sturgiss in the database of Find a Grave (English)