Chester Isaiah Long
Politician. Republican. Born: October 12, 1860, Millerstown, Pennsylvania. Died: July 1, 1934, Washington, D.C. Served in U.S. House of Representatives, 7th District: March 4, 1899, to March 3, 1909. Served in U.S. Senate: March 4, 1903, to March 4, 1909
Chester I. Long, the future representative and senator from Kansas, was born in near Millerstown in Perry County, Pennsylvania, on October 12, 1860, and moved with his parents to Daviess County, Missouri, in 1865. Long moved to Paola, Kansas, in 1879, and graduated from the normal school there in 1880; he subsequently taught school for several years, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1885, and decided to start his practice in Medicine Lodge. In 1888 Long launched his career in public office with a successful race for the state senate, a position he held for one term (1889-1893) before making an unsuccessful bid for election to Congress in 1892. Undaunted, Long came back two years later and won the seat as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress by defeating the two-term incumbent, Populist Jerry Simpson. Two years later, Long lost a rematch to Simpson, but was victorious in the congressional elections of 1898, 1900, and 1902; this time Congressman Long served from March 4, 1899, until his resignation, effective March 4, 1903, before the commencement of the Fifty-eighth Congress, to become U.S. senator from Kansas. Long's service in the Senate was limited to one term (March 4, 1903, to March 3, 1909), he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1908. In 1911 the former senator moved to Wichita where he practiced law and chaired the commission to revise the general statutes of Kansas, 1921-1923, before moving back in 1925 to Washington, D.C., where he served as president of the American Bar Association (1925-1926) and died on July 1, 1934. (For more information on Long, see finding aids.)
Entry: Long, Chester Isaiah
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2011
Date Modified: May 2012
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