Martin Nelson JOHNSON, Congress, ND (1850-1909)

JOHNSON, Martin Nelson, a Representative and a Senator from North Dakota; born in Racine County, Wis., March 3, 1850; moved with his parents to Decorah, Iowa, the same year; was taught at home and attended the country schools; graduated from the law department of the University of Iowa at Iowa City in 1873; taught two years in the California Military Academy at Oakland, Calif.; returned to Iowa in 1875; admitted to the bar in 1876 and commenced practice in Decorah; member, State house of representatives 1877; member, State senate 1878-1882; presidential elector on the Republican ticket 1876; moved to Dakota Territory in 1882; engaged in agricultural pursuits; prosecuting attorney of Nelson County 1886-1890; member of the constitutional convention of North Dakota in 1889; unsuccessful Republican candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1889; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-second and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1891-March 3, 1899); was not a candidate for renomination in 1898, having become a candidate for Senator; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1899; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1909, until his death in Fargo, N.Dak., October 21, 1909; chairman, Committee to Investigate Trespassers Upon Indian Lands (Sixty-first Congress); interment in the City Cemetery, Petersburg, N.Dak.

Bibliography

U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses. 61st Cong., 2nd sess., 1910. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1910.

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