Josiah Duane HICKS, Congress, PA (1844-1923)

HICKS, Josiah Duane, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Machen, Wales, August 1, 1844; immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled in Chester County, Pa., in 1847, and in the same year moved to Duncansville, Pa.; attended the common schools of Blair and Huntingdon Counties; moved to Altoona, Pa., in 1861; during the Civil War enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, as a private in 1862 and served nearly eighteen months; reentered civil life as a clerk on the Pennsylvania Railroad; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1875 and commenced practice in Tyrone, Pa.; elected district attorney of Blair County in 1880; reelected in 1883; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1899); chairman, Committee on Patents (Fifty-fifth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1898; resumed the practice of law; member of the Altoona Board of Education 1911-1919; State commander of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1921; died in Altoona, Pa., May 9, 1923; interment in Fairview Cemetery.

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