Frederick Edward White (January 19, 1844 – January 14, 1920) was a one-term Democratic

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Iowa's 6th congressional district Iowa's 6th congressional district is a former List of United States congressional districts, U.S. congressional district in the Iowa, State of Iowa. It existed in elections from 1862 to 1992, when it was lost due to Iowa's population growth rate ...

Biography

Born in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, White immigrated to the United States in 1857 with his mother, who settled on a farm in

Keokuk County, Iowa Keokuk County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 10,033. The county seat is Sigourney, Iowa, Sigourney. History Keokuk County was formed in 1837. It ...

. When the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

began in 1861, he joined the 8th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment, but as a seventeen-year-old, he was rejected on account of age. In February 1862, after his eighteenth birthday, he enlisted in the

13th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 13th Iowa Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 13th Iowa Infantry was organized at Davenport, Iowa, and mustered in for three years of Federal service between Oct ...

. He was mustered out in August 1865, after the war's end, and returned to Keokuk County and engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising. In 1890, White received the Democratic nomination to run against incumbent Republican Congressman John F. Lacey for the U.S. House seat in Iowa's 6th congressional district. A protectionist measure known as the

McKinley tariff The Tariff Act of 1890, commonly called the McKinley Tariff, was an act of the United States Congress framed by then-Representative William McKinley, that became law on October 1, 1890. The tariff raised the average duty on imports to almost 50% ...

had been approved by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed by a Republican president, but was extremely unpopular, especially in rural areas such as the 6th district, where it was blamed for making the agricultural economy worse. White took advantage of that backlash, and unseated Lacey, serving in the Fifty-second Congress. However, in the next election, many Iowa voters returned to historic voting patterns, and White (and the other new Iowa Democratic congressmen) were not re-elected. Instead, Lacey reclaimed his seat, and would hold it until 1907. In all, White served in Congress from March 4, 1891, to March 3, 1893. After his defeat, White retired from public life and resumed agricultural pursuits. He died in

Sigourney, Iowa Sigourney ( ) is a city and the county seat of Keokuk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,004 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Keokuk County Courthouse is located in the Public Square Historic District (Sig ...

, on January 14, 1920. He was interred in Sigourney Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Frederick Edward 1844 births 1920 deaths Union army soldiers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa People from Keokuk County, Iowa 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives