Edward J. Livernash | |
---|---|
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives from California's 4th district | |
In office March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1905 | |
Preceded by | Julius Kahn |
Succeeded by | Julius Kahn |
Personal details | |
Born | Lower Calaveritas, California | February 14, 1866
Died | June 1, 1938 Agnew, California | (aged 72)
Resting place | Cypress Lawn Memorial Park |
Political party |
Democratic Union Labor |
Spouse |
Jessie Overton
(
m. 1891;
div. 1909)Zilla Dumouriez
(
m. 1909) |
Children | Alberta |
Occupation | Journalist |
Edward James Livernash, subsequently Count Edward James de Nivernais (February 14, 1866 – June 1, 1938), was an American newspaperman and lawyer who served one term as a U.S. Representative representing the fourth congressional district of California from 1903 to 1905. [1] [2]
Late in life Livernash adopted the French form of the family name, de Nivernais, by decree of court. [1]
Livernash was born in Lower Calaveritas, a California mining camp near San Andreas, [1] to an Irish mother and a father of French-Canadian descent, [3] and attended the common schools of California. [1] He became a printer at the age of fifteen, and a year later founded a country newspaper at Cloverdale, California. [1] He studied law in preparation for journalism, and in 1887 was admitted to the California bar. [1] In 1891, he joined the staff of the San Francisco Examiner and held various editorial posts there. [1]
In 1897 Livernash was sent by the Klondike miners as commissioner to the Dominion of Canada to urge a modification of onerous laws. [1]
in 1904, Livernash ran for Congress to represent California's 4th congressional district ( San Francisco) in the Fifty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1905) on a Democratic and Union Labor ticket. [1] [4] The dual nomination was unusual, and under then-prevailing California law, Livernash was required to choose which nomination would appear on the ballot; however, in October 1902 the California Supreme Court held that the provision limiting the ballot entry to a single nomination was not valid, and allowed both designations to appear. [5]
Livernash's opponents in the election were the incumbent, Republican Julius Kahn; Socialist Party candidate William Costly; and Prohibition Party candidate Joseph Rowell. [4] Livernash received 16,146 (49.17%) of the votes cast, compared to 16,005 (48.74%) cast for Kahn, with Costly and Rowell picking up the remaining 2.09%. [4] Kahn contested the election, charging that many of the votes in Livernash's plurality were illegally cast, but the election was upheld. [6]
Livernash served only one term, losing his reelection bid to Kahn in 1904. [7]
He became the managing editor of the Rocky Mountain News in 1906, [1] but resigned after only thirteen weeks after coming under criticism from Senator Thomas M. Patterson for an editorial published in December 1906. [8] [9]
Livernash resided in France from 1909 to 1912, when he returned to the United States and settled near Belmont, California. [1] He engaged in study and literary pursuits. [1]
Livernash died in Agnew, California on June 1, 1938. [1] His remains were cremated at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California. [1]
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress