Usher L. Burdick Papers

"BURDICK, Usher Lloyd,  (father of Quentin N. Burdick, father-in-law of Jocelyn B. Burdick, and father-in-law of Robert W. Levering), a Representative from North Dakota; born in Owatonna, Steele County, Minn., February 21, 1879; moved with his parents to Dakota Territory in 1882; raised among the Sioux Indians; was graduated from the State normal school at Mayville, N.Dak., in 1900; deputy superintendent of schools of Benson County, N.Dak., 1900-1902; was graduated from the law department of the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis in 1904, teaching school in a business college while attending the university; was admitted to the bar in 1904 and commenced practice in Munich, N.Dak.; member of the State house of representatives 1907-1911, serving as speaker in 1909; moved to Williston, N.Dak., in 1910 and continued the practice of law; Lieutenant Governor 1911-1913; State’s attorney of Williams County 1913-1915; assistant United States district attorney for North Dakota 1929-1932; unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination to the Seventy-third Congress in 1932; also engaged in livestock breeding and farming; author; elected as a Republican to the Seventy-fourth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1935-January 3, 1945); was not a candidate for renomination in 1944, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senator; unsuccessful Independent candidate for election in 1944 to the Seventy-ninth Congress; elected to the Eighty-first and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1949-January 3, 1959); was not a candidate for renomination in 1958; died in Washington, D.C., August 19, 1960; interment on his ranch at Williston, N.Dak." Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Besides his son Quentin, Usher Burdick had two other children: Eugene and Eileen.

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