Joel Funk Asper

Joel Funk Asper

Joel Funk Asper (born April 20, 1822 in Adams County , Pennsylvania , †  October 1, 1872 in Chillicothe , Missouri ) was an American politician . Between 1869 and 1871 he represented the state of Missouri in the US House of Representatives .

Career

In 1827, Joel Asper moved with his parents to Trumbull County , Ohio , where he attended public schools. After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1844, he began to work in Warren in this profession. There he also worked as a justice of the peace in 1846. In 1847 he became a district attorney in Geauga County . Politically, Asper was a member of the short-lived Free Soil Party , whose federal party congress he attended as a delegate in 1848. As a result he also worked in the newspaper industry. In 1849 he published the Western Reserve Chronicle newspaper. A year later he moved to Iowa , where he moved the "Chardon Democrat".

During the civil war he put together his own company in the Union Army , which he commanded as a captain. In the army he rose to lieutenant colonel until 1863. Because of an injury he had to quit active duty that year. In 1864 he was again colonel in a volunteer unit from Ohio for a few months. He was one of the forces guarding the Johnson's Island POW camp .

After the final end of his military service, Asper moved to Chillicothe, Missouri, where he practiced as a lawyer. In 1866 he founded the newspaper "Spectator". Politically, he had meanwhile become a member of the Republican Party . In 1868 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago , where General Ulysses S. Grant was nominated as a presidential candidate. In the congressional election of the same year Asper was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the seventh constituency of Missouri , where he succeeded Benjamin F. Loan on March 4, 1869 . Since he renounced another candidacy in 1870, he could only complete one legislative period in Congress until March 3, 1871 . During this time, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.

After leaving the US House of Representatives, Joel Asper returned to practice as a lawyer. He died on October 1, 1872 in Chillicothe, where he was also buried.

Web links

• Joel Funk Asper in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Joel Funk Asper in the database of Find a Grave (English)