GEAR, Rep. John Henry

GEAR, SEERLY, BANDY

Posted By: Sharyl Ferrall (email)
Date: 12/12/2005 at 05:59:32

John Henry Gear, of Burlington, was born in Ithaca, new York, April 7, 1825; received a common-school education; removed to Galena, Illinois, in 1836, to Fort Snelling, Iowa Territory, in 1838, and to Burlington in 1843, where he engaged in merchandising; was elected mayor of the city of Burlington in 1863; was a member of the Iowa House of Representatives of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth General Assemblies of the State, serving as Speaker for the last two terms; was elected Governor of Iowa in 1878-'79, and again in 1880-'81; was elected to the Fiftieth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fifty-first Congress as a Republican, receiving 18,130 votes, against 17,250 votes for John J. Seerly, Democrat, 180 votes for C.H. Bandy, Prohibitionist, and 16 votes scattering.

-source: Official Congressional Directory, Fifty-First congress, First Session, Third Ed., Corrected to May 10, 1890; Washington: Government Printing Office, 1890; Iowa Representatives First District, page 39-40

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