James Cowgill (April 2, 1848 – January 20, 1922) was State Treasurer of Missouri from 1908 to 1912 and

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, from 1918 until he died in office.

Biography

Cowgill was born April 2, 1848, on a farm in Henry County, Indiana. In 1864, He joined the Union Army in the American Civil War. He was part of the 9th Indiana Infantry and served until the end of the war in 1865. He moved to a Caldwell County, Missouri farm in 1868. He was elected presiding

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the Caldwell County Court in 1882 and in 1890. He represented the county in the

Missouri General Assembly The Missouri General Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Missouri Senate, Senate and a 163-member Missouri House of Represen ...

. Cowgill moved to Kansas City in 1893 and was elected city treasurer in 1900. He was president of the Pioneer Life Insurance Company. After serving as State Treasurer, he was Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee in 1916. He was member of the Kansas City Board of Elections in 1917 and elected mayor in 1918. He died at his desk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowgill, James 1848 births 1922 deaths Mayors of Kansas City, Missouri State treasurers of Missouri Missouri Democrats People from Henry County, Indiana People from Caldwell County, Missouri 20th-century mayors of places in Missouri 20th-century Missouri politicians