Selden P. Spencer

Selden Palmer Spencer ( born September 16, 1862 in Erie, Pennsylvania, † May 16 1925 in Washington DC ) was an American politician ( Republican), who represented the state of Missouri in the U.S. Senate.

Spencer attended the public schools in his hometown of Erie, and then began a study at Yale College, where he graduated in 1884. Two years later he graduated from the Law School of Washington University in St. Louis and was admitted to the bar, after which he began practicing as a lawyer in St. Louis. Also starting in 1886 Spencer served as a lecturer on medical jurisprudence at the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis.

He served as a deputy in the House of Representatives from Missouri 1895-1896 His first public office. In 1897, the appointment was made a judge of the appellate court of the judicial district of St. Louis, where he stayed until 1903. He then founded with the late governor of Missouri, Forrest C. Donnell, a common law firm. Moreover, he held the rank of Captain in the Missouri Home Guard and served as president of a convening authority in the years 1917 and 1918.

After the death of U.S. Senator William J. Stone on April 14, 1918 Selden P. Spencer was elected on November 5 of that year with 52.4 percent of the vote to Democrat Joseph W. Folk as his successor; day he took up his post in Washington. In 1920 he was elected for a full term of office, but in May 1925 he died in a Washington hospital. During his time in the Senate, he served as Chairman of the Committee on Petitions ( Committee on Claims ).