Morris SHEPPARD, Congress, TX (1875-1941)

SHEPPARD, Morris, (son of John Levi Sheppard, grandfather of Connie Mack III, and great-grandfather of Connie Mack IV), a Representative and a Senator from Texas; born in Wheatville, Morris County, Tex., May 28, 1875; attended the common schools of various Texas towns; graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1895, from the law department of the same university in 1897, and from the law department of Yale University in 1898; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Pittsburg, Camp County, Tex., in 1898; moved to Texarkana in 1899 and continued the practice of his profession; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father, John L. Sheppard; reelected to the Fifty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from November 15, 1902, to February 3, 1913, when he resigned; chairman, Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Sixty-second Congress); elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate on January 29, 1913, to fill the vacancy in the term ending March 3, 1913, caused by the resignation of Joseph W. Bailey, and on the same day was also elected for the term commencing March 4, 1913; reelected in 1918, 1924, 1930 and 1936; took the oath of office on February 3, 1913, and served until his death; Democratic whip 1929-1933; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture (Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses), Committee on the Census (Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Revolutionary Claims (Sixty-sixth Congress), Committee on Military Affairs (Seventy-third through Seventy-seventh Congresses); died in Washington, D.C., April 9, 1941; interment in Hillcrest Cemetery, Texarkana, Tex.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Bailey, Richard. ”Morris Sheppard.” In Profiles in Power: Twentieth-Century Texans in Washington, Edited by Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr., and Michael L. Collins. Arlington Heights, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1993; Duke, Escal F. “Political Career of Morris Sheppard, 1875-1941.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1958.

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