John Jacob ESCH, Congress, WI (1861-1941)

ESCH, John Jacob, a Representative from Wisconsin; born near Norwalk, Monroe County, Wis., March 20, 1861; moved with his parents to Milwaukee in 1865 and thence to Sparta, Wis., in 1871; attended the public schools; was graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1882 and from its law department in 1887; was admitted to the bar in 1887 and commenced practice at La Crosse, Wis.; assistant principal of Sparta High School 1883-1886; city treasurer of Sparta in 1885; was commissioned acting judge advocate general with the rank of colonel by Gov. W.H. Upham in January 1894 and held the position for two years; delegate to the Republican State conventions in 1894 and 1896; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-sixth and to the ten succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1899-March 3, 1921); chairman, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (Sixty-sixth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1920; appointed as a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission on March 11, 1921; elected chairman on January 1, 1927, and served until May 31, 1928; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., until he retired in 1938; returned to La Crosse, Wis., where he died on April 27, 1941; interment in Oak Grove Cemetery.

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