Levi Ankeny

Levi Ankeny ( born August 1, 1844 in St. Joseph, Missouri, † March 29, 1921 in Walla Walla, Washington) was an American politician who represented the state of Washington in the U.S. Senate.

Biography

Levi Ankeny moved with his parents in 1850, at the age of six years, to Portland, Oregon where he spent most of his childhood and youth. After visiting an agricultural school Ankeny graduated from the Kingsley Academy, where he earned his degree in business administration. He moved then to Idaho, where he worked as a businessman in Lewiston, Orofino and Florence. The mid-1860s Ankeny was elected the first mayor of Lewiston, a function which meant his first political office. In 1867 he married Paulina Nesmith, daughter of Senator James Nesmith of Oregon; both got five children together.

At the beginning of the 1870s drew Ankeny to Washington and settled in Walla Walla. Here he found in the banking industry a future career, which he pursued over the next 30 years. In 1902 he successfully ran as a party member of the Republican for a seat in the Senate of the United States. The term of office Ankenys went on 4 March 1903 to 3 March 1909. In 1908, he gave up another candidacy. Ankeny, who was again in the 1910s as a successful banker, died in March 1921.