Henry C. Hansbrough

Infobox Senator
name = Henry Clay Hansbrough


jr/sr=United States Representative
state = North Dakota
term_start = 1889
term_end = 1891
preceded = none
succeeded = Martin N. Johnson
office2 = United States Senator
term_start2 = 1891
term_end2 = 1909
predecessor2 = Gilbert A. Pierce
successor2 = Martin N. Johnson
date of birth=January 30, 1848
place of birth=Prairie du Rocher, Illinois
dead = dead
date of death=death date and age|1933|11|16|1848|1|30
place of death=Washington, D.C.
residence=
spouse=
profession=Printing
religion=
party=Republican|

Henry Clay Hansbrough (January 30, 1848 - November 16, 1933) was a United States politician who served as the first United States Representative from North Dakota, as well as a Senator from North Dakota.

Biography

Henry Clay Hansbrough was born near Prairie du Rocher, Illinois. Henry Clay, who attended the wedding for his parents Elisha Hansbrough and Sarah Hagan, suggested to them that they name their first son after him, and they did. [ [http://www.prairiepublic.org/programs/datebook/bydate/04/0104/013004.jsp Dakota Datebook ] ] Henry attended the common schools and in 1867 moved to San Jose, California. He learned the art of printing and worked at the trade in San Jose and later at Baraboo, Wisconsin. He moved to Dakota Territory and established the "Grand Forks News" in 1881 and the "Inter-Ocean at Devils Lake" in 1883. He was mayor of Devils Lake from 1885 to 1888 and a member of the Republican National Committee from 1888 to 1896.

Upon the admission of North Dakota as a State into the Union, Hansbrough was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first Congress and served from November 2, 1889, until March 3, 1891. He did not seek renomination in 1891, having become a candidate for Senator; he was elected to the Senate in 1891 and reelected in 1897 and again in 1903 and served from March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1909. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1909. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on the Library (Fifty-fourth Congress) and a member of the Committee on Public Lands (Fifty-fifth through Sixtieth Congresses) and the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (Sixtieth Congress). Hansbrough resumed his former business pursuits in Devils Lake and moved to Florida, New York, and finally to Washington, D.C., in 1927, where he died in 1933. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered under an elm tree on the United States Capitol Grounds in Washington.

References

*CongBio|H000169

Notes