Edwin Hurd CONGER, Congress, IA (1843-1907)

CONGER, Edwin Hurd, a Representative from Iowa; born in Knox County, Ill., March 7, 1843; was graduated from Lombard University, Galesburg, Ill., in 1862; during the Civil War enlisted as a private in Company I, One Hundred and Second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war; attained the rank of captain and received the brevet of major; studied law and was graduated from the Albany Law School in 1866; was admitted to the bar and practiced in Galesburg, Ill., until 1868; moved to Dexter, Dallas County, Iowa, in 1868 and engaged in stock growing, banking, and agricultural pursuits; elected treasurer of Dallas County in 1877 and reelected in 1879; elected State treasurer in 1880 and reelected in 1882; elected as a Republican to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses and served from March 4, 1885, to October 3, 1890, when he resigned to accept a diplomatic mission; chairman, Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures (Fifty-first Congress); Minister to Brazil from September 27, 1890, to September 13, 1893; appointed Minister to China January 19, 1898, and served until his resignation on March 8, 1905, on which day he was appointed as Ambassador to Mexico and served until his resignation on October 18, 1905; died in Pasadena, Calif., May 18, 1907; interment in Mountain View Cemetery.

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