Selden P. Spencer

Selden P. Spencer

Selden Palmer Spencer (born September 16, 1862 in Erie , Pennsylvania , †  May 16, 1925 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ) who represented the state of Missouri in the US Senate .

Spencer attended public schools in his hometown of Erie and then began studying at Yale College , where he graduated in 1884. Two years later he graduated from the Law School of Washington University in St. Louis and was admitted to the Bar Association, after which he started practicing as a lawyer in St. Louis. Also from 1886 Spencer served as a lecturer in medical law at the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis.

He held his first public office as an MP in the Missouri House of Representatives between 1895 and 1896. In 1897, he was appointed judge at the St. Louis District Court of Appeal, which he remained until 1903. He then founded a joint law firm with the future governor of Missouri, Forrest C. Donnell . He also held the rank of captain in the Missouri Home Guard and served as president of a drafting agency in 1917 and 1918.

After the death of US Senator William J. Stone on April 14, 1918, Selden P. Spencer was elected on November 5 of the same year with 52.4 percent of the vote against the Democrat Joseph W. Folk as his successor; the next day he took up his post in Washington. In 1920 he was re-elected for a full term, but in May 1925 he died in a Washington hospital. During his time in the Senate, he was, among other things, chairman of the Committee on Claims .

Web links

• Selden P. Spencer in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Selden P. Spencer in the database of Find a Grave (English)