Charles Nelson PRAY, Congress, MT (1868-1963)

PRAY, Charles Nelson, a Representative from Montana; born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, N.Y., April 6, 1868; attended the public schools in Salisbury and Middlebury, Vt.; graduate of the Middlebury High School; attended Middlebury (Vt.) College 1886-1888 and was graduated from the Chicago College of Law; was admitted to the bar in 1892 and commenced practice at Fort Benton, Mont., in 1896; served as assistant prosecuting attorney of Chouteau County in 1897 and 1898; elected prosecuting attorney in 1898 and reelected in 1900, 1902, and 1904; elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1913); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third Congress; resumed the practice of law in Great Falls, Cascade County, Mont., January 1, 1914; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1916; appointed judge of the United States District Court of Montana on January 21, 1924, in which capacity he served until his retirement in 1957; died in Great Falls, Mont., September 12, 1963; interment in Hillcrest Lawn Memorial Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present