Grant Earl Mouser (September 11, 1868 – May 6, 1949) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

for two terms from 1905 to 1909. He was the father of

Grant E. Mouser Jr. Grant Earl Mouser Jr. (February 20, 1895 – December 21, 1943) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Ohio for two terms from 1929 to 1933. He was the son of Grant E. Mouser, who also served as a United States c ...

, who also became a United States Congressman from Ohio.

Biography

Born in

LaRue, Ohio LaRue is a village in Marion County, Ohio, United States. The population was 747 at the 2010 census. The village is served by Elgin Local School District. LaRue has a public library, a branch of Marion Public Library. Geography LaRue is located ...

, Mouser attended the LaRue Union Schools and

Ohio Northern University Ohio Northern University (Ohio Northern or ONU) is a private United Methodist Church–affiliated university in Ada, Ohio. Founded by Henry Solomon Lehr in 1871, ONU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It offers over 60 programs to ...

Ada, Ohio Ada ; ; is a village in Hardin County, Ohio, United States, located about southwest of Toledo. The population was 5,952 at the 2010 census. History Following the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs, the Shawnee Indians held reservation land at Hog Cree ...

. He graduated from the

Cincinnati Law School The University of Cincinnati College of Law was founded in 1833 as the Cincinnati Law School. It is the fourth oldest continuously running law school in the United States — after Harvard, the University of Virginia, and Yale — and the first in ...

in 1890 and was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

the same year. He commenced practice of law in

Marion, Ohio Marion is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Ohio, Marion County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 35,999 at the 2020 United S ...

, where he served as prosecuting attorney of Marion County from 1893 to 1896. He served as a delegate to many state conventions.

Family and personal life

Mouser was the son of Dr. Justus and Sara (DeLong) Mouser. Mouser married Della E. Ridgway, of LaRue, November 28, 1892. They had three children: Helena, Grant Earl Jr., and Annabel. Mouser was a member of the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Church, B.P.O.E., K. of P. and I.O.O.F.

Congress

In 1904 Mouser ran for and was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the

59th Congress The 59th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1905, t ...

. He successfully ran for re-election in 1906, serving in the

60th Congress The 60th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1907, to M ...

Later career

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1908 to the 61st Congress. After the election, he resumed practicing law in Marion until his retirement in 1935. He also served as delegate to the

1908 Republican National Convention The 1908 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois on June 16 to June 19, 1908. It convened to nominate successors to President Theodore Roosevelt and Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks. U.S. Secretary of Wa ...

. From 1916 to 1925, he served as a judge in the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

of Marion County.

Harding patrimony controversy

Mouser cross examined

Nan Britton Nanna Popham Britton (November 9, 1896 – March 21, 1991) was an American secretary who was a mistress of Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States. In 1927, she revealed that her daughter, Elizabeth, had been fathered by Hardin ...

in Britton's lawsuit (Britton v. Klunk), in which she claimed that the late U.S. President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

was the father of her daughter

Elizabeth Ann Blaesing Elizabeth Ann Britton Harding Blaesing (October 22, 1919 – November 17, 2005) was the daughter of Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States, and his mistress, Nan Britton. Harding and Britton, who both lived in Marion, Ohio, ...

. Britton was unable to provide any concrete evidence, and was shaken by the vicious personal attacks made by Mouser, which cost her the case. Carl Sferrazza Anthony, author of ''Florence Harding'', a biography of Harding's wife, wrote that court transcripts in Toledo, Ohio, show that Mouser referred to Britton as a "degenerate and pervert", and "brought (Florence Kling Harding) in by using Warren's 'love of his good wife' against a 'distorted... deranged... demented... nddiabolical' Nan who had no respect for the marriage tie...." DNA testing in 2015 confirmed that Blaesing was indeed Harding's daughter.

Death

Mouser died in

, May 6, 1949 and is interred in Marion Cemetery.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouser, Grant E. 1868 births 1949 deaths People from Marion, Ohio University of Cincinnati College of Law alumni Ohio Northern University alumni County district attorneys in Ohio Ohio lawyers People from LaRue, Ohio Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio