John Joseph Seerley

John Joseph Seerley (March 13, 1852 – February 23, 1931) was a one-term Democratic U.S. Representative from Iowa's 1st congressional district in southeastern Iowa.

Born on a farm near Toulon, Illinois, Seerley moved to Iowa in 1854 with his parents, who settled on a farm in Keokuk County.

He attended the common schools, and graduated from the University of Iowa at Iowa City in 1875.

While serving as principal of Iowa City High School in 1876, he enrolled in the University of Iowa College of Law, graduating in 1877.

He was admitted to the bar in 1877 and commenced practice in Burlington, Iowa.

He served as City solicitor of Burlington from 1885 to 1890.

In 1888, he won the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Representative John H. Gear, who was seeking re-election to a second term representing Iowa's 1st district.^[1] This would be the first of three consecutive races between the two. Gear won the 1888 general election. Two years later, however, Seerley unseated Gear as part of the 1890 democratic landslide, becoming one of six Democratic U.S. House members from Iowa in the Fifty-second Congress. In 1892, however, Gear again ran against Seerley. Like all four Democratic freshmen from Iowa, Seerley lost his bid for re-election. He served in Congress from March 4, 1891 to March 3, 1893.

Seerley resumed the practice of law in Burlington, serving again as City solicitor from 1893 to 1895. He was also interested in banking and agricultural pursuits. He remained active in Democratic Party activities, serving as a delegate to the 1920 Democratic National Convention.

Seerley died in Burlington, on February 23, 1931. He was interred in Aspin Grove Cemetery.

His son and namesake, Major John Joseph Seerley, Jr (1897–1943) served with distinction in World War I and World War II, losing his life while serving in the latter.

He was the grandfather of George Irving Bell ^[2]

See also

• List of World War I flying aces from the United States

References

External links

• John Joseph Seerley at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa 1st W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum 2nd Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack 3rd Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young 4th Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King 5th Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King 6th A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy 7th Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle 8th McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven 9th Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey 10th Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist 11th Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell AL Hastings and Leffler Terr Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.