Lorraine Michael Gensman (August 26, 1878 – May 27, 1954) was a

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

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

Biography

Born on a farm near

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, on August 26, 1878, Gensman was the son of Nicholas and Kansas Osborne Gensman. He attended the public schools, the Garden Plains Grade School, Wichita Commercial College, Lewis Academy, and the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia. He was

Principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

of the

Andale, Kansas Andale is a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 941. History Andale was founded in the early 1880s. The city's name is a portmanteau of the surnames of two families of pionee ...

schools in 1896 and 1897. He graduated from the

University of Kansas School of Law The University of Kansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Kansas, a public research university in Lawrence, Kansas. The University of Kansas Law School was founded in 1893, replacing the earlier Department of Law, which had ex ...

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

in 1901, and was admitted to the

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the same year. He married fellow University of Kansas graduate Lucia Van Cleef on April 6, 1904.

Career

Gensman began

practice Practice or practise may refer to: Education and learning * Practice (learning method), a method of learning by repetition * Phantom practice, phenomenon in which a person's abilities continue to improve, even without practicing * Practice-based ...

in Lawrence, Kansas; then moved to

Lawton, Oklahoma Lawton is a city in and the county seat of Comanche County, Oklahoma, Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Located in western Oklahoma, approximately southwest of Oklahoma City, it is the principal city of the Lawton metropolitan ar ...

in 1901, resuming his practice there. He served as

Referee in Bankruptcy A Referee in Bankruptcy or Bankruptcy Referee was a federal official with quasi-judicial powers, appointed by a United States district court to administer bankruptcy proceedings, prior to 1979. The office was first created by the Bankruptcy Act of ...

from 1902 to 1907. He served as

prosecuting attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

of Comanche County in 1918 and 1919. Elected as a Republican to the

67th Congress The 67th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 19 ...

, Gensman served from March 4, 1921 to March 4, 1923. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1922 to the 68th Congress and for election in 1936 to the 75th Congress. He served as delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

in 1924. He engaged in the oil business, and resumed the practice of law until his retirement in 1953.

Death

Gensman died in Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma, on May 27, 1954 (age 75 years, 274 days). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and object ...

at Highland Cemetery, Lawton, Oklahoma.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Gensman, L. M.

at the

Carl Albert Center The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center is a nonpartisan institution devoted to teaching and research related to the United States Congress and, more broadly, to strengthening representative democracy through engaged and informe ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gensman, Lorraine Michael 1878 births 1954 deaths People from Sedgwick County, Kansas Emporia State University alumni University of Kansas alumni Kansas lawyers Oklahoma lawyers Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives