Library of Congress

BURKETT, Elmer Jacob, a Representative and a Senator from Nebraska; born on a farm near Glenwood, Mills County, Iowa, December 1, 1867; attended the public schools; graduated from Tabor (Iowa) College in 1890 and from the law department of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1893; principal of the Leigh, Nebr., public schools 1890-1892; admitted to the bar in 1893 and commenced practice in Lincoln, Nebr.; trustee of Tabor College 1895-1905; member, State house of representatives 1896-1898; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, and Fifty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1899-March 3, 1905); reelected to the Fifty-ninth Congress, but resigned, effective March 4, 1905, to become Senator; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1905, to March 3, 1911; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1910; chairman, Committee on Indian Depredations (Fifty-ninth Congress); Committee on Pacific Railroads (Fifty-ninth through Sixty-first Congresses); resumed the practice of law in Lincoln, Nebr.; declined the candidacy for Governor of Nebraska in 1912; was an unsuccessful candidate for the Vice Presidential nomination in 1912; died in Lincoln, Nebr., May 23, 1935; interment in the Wyuka Cemetery.