Edward Degener

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Edward Degener
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 8th district
In office 1870–1871
Preceded by	District Created
Succeeded by	John Hancock
Political party	Republican

Edward Degener (October 20, 1809 - September 11, 1890) was a Republican U.S. Representative from Texas during Reconstruction.

Born in Brunswick, Germany, Degener pursued an academic course in Germany and in England. He was twice a member of the legislative body in Anhalt-Dessau and was a member of the first German National Assembly at Frankfurt-am-Main in 1848.^[1] He immigrated to the United States in 1850 and settled in Sisterdale, Texas, in the Texas Hill Country west of San Antonio, with its burgeoning German immigrant population. Degener engaged in agricultural pursuits. During the Civil War, he was court-martialed and imprisoned by the Confederates because of his devotion to the Union cause. After his release from imprisonment engaged in the wholesale grocery business in San Antonio.

He served as member of the Texas constitutional conventions in 1866 and 1868. Upon the readmission of the State of Texas to representation was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first Congress and served from March 31, 1870, to March 3, 1871. Degener was an unsuccessful for reelection in 1870 to the Forty-second Congress.

He served as member of the city council of San Antonio, Texas from 1872 to 1878 and died in San Antonio on September 11, 1890; He was interred in the City Cemetery.

[edit] Sources

• Edward Degener at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association.

[edit] References

Political offices
Preceded by District Created	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 4th congressional district March 31, 1870–March 3, 1871	Succeeded by John Hancock