Silas A. Holcomb

Silas Alexander Holcomb (born August 25, 1858 in Gibson County , Indiana , †  April 25, 1920 ) was an American lawyer and politician and between 1895 and 1899 the tenth governor of the state of Nebraska .

Early years

Silas Holcomb attended local schools in his Indiana homeland. In 1879 he moved to Hamilton County , Nebraska. There he worked as a farmer and teacher. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1882, whereupon he opened a practice in Broken Bow . In 1891, Holcomb served as a judge in the Twelfth Judicial District of Nebraska. At that time he was a member of the Populist Party , which gained great importance in some parts of the United States in the 1880s and 90s and of which the most prominent member was arguably William Jennings Bryan . The party later merged with the Democrats . In the years 1894 and 1896 Holcomb was nominated as a merger candidate of the two parties for the gubernatorial elections and both times also elected by the citizens of Nebraska.

politics

Holcomb's four-year term began on January 3, 1895 and ended on January 5, 1899. The Spanish-American War thus fell into his reign. The impact of the conflict on Nebraska was rather small because of the brevity of the war. Holcomb reformed state administration and the management of budget funds. He had to deal with corruption especially in his finance ministry and promoted school policy. After the end of his tenure, Holcomb remained politically and legally active. Between 1900 and 1906 he was a judge on the Nebraska Supreme Court . Between 1913 and 1919 he served as chairman of a government committee ( Board of Commissioners of State Institutions ). Holcomb died in April 1920. He was married to Alice Brinson, with whom he had three children.

Web links

• Silas Holcomb in the National Governors Association (English)
• Silas A. Holcomb in the database of Find a Grave (English)