James Sanford DAVENPORT, Congress, OK (1864-1940)

DAVENPORT, James Sanford, a Representative from Oklahoma; born on a farm near Gaylesville, Cherokee County, Ala., September 21, 1864; moved with his parents to Conway, Faulkner County, Ark., in 1880; attended the common schools, Vilona (Ark.) High School, and Greenbrier (Ark.) Academy; studied law; was admitted to the bar of Faulkner County February 14, 1890, and commenced practice in Conway; in October of that year moved to Muskogee, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and in 1893 to Vinita, where he engaged in the practice of law; member of the Territorial council 1897-1901, serving as speaker the last two years of his term; one of the attorneys for the Cherokee Nation 1901-1907; mayor of Vinita in 1903 and 1904; elected as a Democrat to the Sixtieth Congress on September 17, 1907, and served from November 16, 1907, when Oklahoma was admitted as a State into the Union, until March 3, 1909; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1908 to the Sixty-first Congress; elected to the Sixty-second, Sixty-third, and Sixty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1911-March 3, 1917); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1916 to the Sixty-fifth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Vinita; was elected judge of the criminal court of appeals of Oklahoma in November 1926; reelected in 1932 and served until his death in Oklahoma City, Okla., January 3, 1940; interment in Fairview Cemetery, Vinita, Okla.

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