Joseph Eugene RANSDELL, Congress, LA (1858-1954)

RANSDELL, Joseph Eugene, a Representative and a Senator from Louisiana; born in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, La., October 7, 1858; attended the public schools and graduated from Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., in 1882; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1883 and practiced at Lake Providence, La., 1883-1889; district attorney for the eighth judicial district of Louisiana 1884-1896; interested in cotton planting and pecan groves; member of the levee board, fifth levee district 1896-1899; member of the State constitutional convention in 1898; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Samuel T. Baird; reelected to the Fifty-seventh and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from August 29, 1899, to March 3, 1913; was not a candidate for renomination in 1912, having become a candidate for the United States Senate; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1912, reelected in 1918 and 1924 and served from March 4, 1913, to March 3, 1931; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1930; chairman, Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Mississippi River and Its Tributaries (Sixty-sixth Congress); in 1920 founded a printing firm in Washington, D.C., and served as a director until 1931 when he returned to Lake Providence, La.; engaged in the real estate business, cotton planting, and pecan growing; member of the board of supervisors, Louisiana State University and Agricultural College at Baton Rouge 1940-1944; died in Lake Providence, La., July 27, 1954; interment in Lake Providence Cemetery.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Flynn, George Q. “A Louisiana Senator and the Underwood Tariff.” Louisiana History 10 (Winter 1969): 5-34; LaBorde, Andras. A National Southerner: Ransdell of Louisiana. New York: Benziger, 1951.

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