Oscar S. Gifford

Oscar Sherman Gifford ( born October 20, 1842 in Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, † January 16, 1913 in Canton, South Dakota ) was an American politician. Between 1885 and 1889 he represented as a delegate the Dakota Territory in the U.S. House of Representatives and from 1889 to 1891 he was a congressman for the second electoral district of the State of South Dakota.

Early years

Oscar Gifford moved with his parents to Wisconsin and then in 1853 in the Brown County in Illinois. He attended the public schools in these two states. Between 1863 and 1865 he participated as a soldier of the Union Army in the Civil War in part. After the war he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1871. After that he began in Canton, Dakota Territory to work in his new profession.

Political rise in Congress

Gifford was a member of the Republican Party. In 1874, he was district attorney in Lincoln County. Between 1881 and 1882 he was mayor of Canton. In 1883 he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of the future State of South Dakota, which was held in Sioux Falls. In the congressional elections of 1884 Gifford was chosen as the candidate of his party to succeed John B. Raymond in the U.S. House of Representatives. There he represented as a delegate between 4 March 1885, the March 3, 1889 for two terms, the interests of the Dakota Territory.

In 1889 this territory was dissolved and created the present-day states of North Dakota and South Dakota. At the first congress elections in South Dakota Oscar Gifford was elected to the second election district of this State in the U.S. Congress. Between November 2, 1889 and March 3, 1891, he served as deputy voting member in the U.S. House of Representatives, while there had been a delegate to vote.

After the end of his time in Congress, Gifford worked in Canton as a lawyer. He is also passed on 16 January 1913.