Joseph V. Graff

Joseph Verdi Graff ( born July 1, 1854 in Terre Haute, Indiana, † November 10, 1921 in Peoria, Illinois ) was an American politician. Between 1895 and 1911 he represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Joseph Graff attended the Terre Haute High School and then the Wabash College in Crawfordsville. In 1873 he moved to Delavan, Illinois, where he worked in the trade. After a subsequent law degree in 1879 and its recent approval as a lawyer, he began practicing in this profession in Delavan. Later he transferred his residence and his law firm to Pekin. In 1891 he became inspector of schools of this city. He also headed the local Board of Education. Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party. In June 1892 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in part, to the President Benjamin Harrison to be unsuccessful re-election has been nominated.

In the congressional elections of 1894 Graff was in the 14th electoral district of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Benjamin F. Funk on March 4, 1895. After seven elections he could pass in Congress until March 3, 1911 eight legislatures. In this time of the Spanish-American War was from 1898. Since 1903 he represented the 16th district of his state. From 1899 to 1905 Graff led the Committee on Claims. In 1910 he was not re-elected.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Joseph Graff worked as a lawyer in Peoria, where he had moved in 1899. He also went into the banking industry. He died on 10 November 1921.