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WICKERSHAM, James, a Delegate from the Territory of Alaska; born in Patoka, Marion
County, Ill., August 24, 1857; attended the common schools; studied law; was
admitted to the bar in 1880 and commenced practice in Springfield, Sangamon
County, Ill.; served in the Governors guards, Springfield Militia; moved to
Washington Territory in 1883; probate judge of Pierce County, Wash., 1884-1888;
city attorney of Tacoma, Wash., in 1894; member of the State house of
representatives in 1898; moved to Eagle, Alaska, when appointed United States
district judge for the Territory of Alaska in 1900; moved to Nome in 1901, to
Valdez in 1902, and to Fairbanks in 1903; served as district judge until
January 1908, when he resigned to run for Congress; elected as a Republican to
the Sixty-first and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1909-March 3,
1917); successfully contested the election of Charles A. Sulzer to the
Sixty-fifth Congress and served from January 7 to March 3, 1919; successfully
contested the election of Charles A. Sulzer to the Sixty-sixth Congress and
served from March 1, to March 3, 1921, succeeding George B. Grigsby, who had
qualified on credentials of a special election held to fill the vacancy caused
by the death of Mr. Sulzer, which occurred while the contest was pending; was
not a candidate for renomination in 1920; moved to Juneau, Alaska, in 1921 and
resumed the practice of law; elected to the Seventy-second Congress (March 4,
1931-March 3, 1933); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1932 to the
Seventy-third Congress; continued the practice of law in Juneau, Alaska; writer
on ethnological and historical subjects; editor of Alaska Territory Law
Reports, and of Old Yukon and Alaskan literature; died in Juneau, Alaska,
October 24, 1939; remains were cremated and the ashes deposited in Old Tacoma
Cemetery, Tacoma, Wash.
BibliographyAtwood, Evangeline.
Frontier Politics: Alaskas James Wickersham. Portland, Ore.:
Binford and Mort, 1979.
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