“The U.S. House of Representatives - Portraits of Congressmen” (detail), Once a Week newspaper, 1890, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

LESTER, Rufus Ezekiel, a Representative from Georgia; born near Waynesboro, Burke County, Ga., December 12, 1837; was graduated from Mercer University, Macon, Ga., in 1857; studied law; was admitted to the bar in Savannah, Ga., and commenced practice in 1859; entered the military service of the Confederate Army in 1861 and served throughout the Civil War; resumed the practice of law in Savannah; member of the State senate 1870-1879 and served as president of that body during the last three years; mayor of Savannah 1883-1889; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first and to the eight succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1889, until his death in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 1906; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses); interment in Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Ga.