George Cosson

George W. Cosson
15th Attorney General of Iowa
In office
January 1911 – January 1917
GovernorBeryl F. Carroll
George W. Clarke
Preceded byHoward Webster Byers
Succeeded byHorace M. Havner
Member of the Iowa Senate
In office
January 11, 1909 – January 8, 1911
Preceded byFrank M. Hopkins[1]
Succeeded byAnthony M. McColl[2]
Assistant Attorney General of Iowa
In office
May 4, 1907 – May 12, 1908
Audubon County Attorney
In office
January 2, 1905 – January 7, 1907
Preceded byFred H. Blume[3]
Succeeded byJames M. Graham
Personal details
Born(1876-01-21)January 21, 1876
Laclede County, Missouri
DiedJune 15, 1963(1963-06-15) (aged 87)
Des Moines, Iowa
Spouse
Jane F. Riggs
​
​
(m. 1904; died 1943)​
EducationUniversity of Iowa College of Law
Valparaiso University

George W. Cosson (January 21, 1876 – June 15, 1963) was the Attorney General of Iowa from 1911 until 1917.[4]

Early life

Cosson was born in Laclede County, Missouri.[4] He attended school in Manning, Iowa, and subsequently enrolled at Valparaiso University and the University of Iowa.[4] He began working for Milwaukee Road as a station agent and operator from 1892 until 1896. He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in June 1898 and moved to Audubon to begin practicing law.[4]

Political career

County Attorney

In November 1904, he ran against Democrat George F. Knapp for Audubon County attorney.[5] Cosson won with 1,778 votes compared to Knapp's 1,005 votes.[5] He was sworn in as County Attorney in January 1905.

In November 1906, he ran against Democrat James M. Graham in the general election.[6] Graham won with 1,259 votes against Cosson's 1,233 votes, a difference of only 26 votes.[7]

Assistant Attorney General

In May 1907, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General of Iowa.[8] He served in that position until May 1908, when he resigned to resume practicing law in Audubon.[9]

Iowa State Senate

On June 2, 1908, Cosson won the Republican primary with 2,871 votes against Democrat W. C. Elliott's 2,424 votes.[10] On November 3, 1908, he won in the general election with 6,991 votes against Democrat J. S. McLuen's 4,123 votes.[11]

He represented District 17 from 1909 to 1911.[4] He served on the Committees for School, Judiciary, Public Health, Agriculture, Suppression of Intemperance, Highways, Educational Institutions and Claims.[12] He was the chairman of the Suppression of Intemperance Committee.[12]

Attorney General of Iowa

He served as Attorney General of Iowa in 1911 to 1917.[4]

In November 1910, Cosson ran against Democrat C. E. Walters.[13] Cosson won with 204,918 votes against Walters 165,659 votes.[13]

In November 1912, Cosson ran against Democrat C. E. Walters, in rematch of 1910.[14] Cosson again won with 196,369 votes against Walters 180,465 votes.[14]

Failed Gubernatorial and Senate Races

Main article: 1916 Iowa gubernatorial election
Main article: 1932 United States Senate election in Iowa

He sought the Republican nomination for Governor in 1916, losing to William L. Harding, in the primary by 53,000 votes.[15]

He later ran in the 1932 US Senate Republican primary.[16][17] He ran against Henry Ames Field, incumbent Senator Smith W. Brookhart, former Iowa State Auditor Glenn C. Haynes, Louis Cook and L. E. Eickelberg.[16][17] Cosson lost with 29,687 votes, compared to Field's 197,263 votes, Brookhart's 145,902 votes, Haynes's 43,050 votes.[16][17] Cosson won more votes than Cook, who won 12,103 votes, and Eickelberg, who won 8,513 votes.[16][17] Field won the primary, but lost to Democrat Richard Louis Murphy in the general election.

World War II

During World War II, Cosson served as Chairman of the Iowa Russian War Relief Committee.[18] He went on a trip to Russia as well.[18]

Personal life

On December 28, 1904, he married Jane "Jennie" F. Riggs in Indianola.[19] Jennie was a principal at the Audubon schools for 2 years.[19] They had four children.[4] Jennie died on February 3, 1943 in San Francisco, while visiting their son, Clarence.[20] She died of pneumonia.[20]

In 1961, Cosson moved to his daughter's home in Des Moines, and retired from the practice of law in August 1962.[18] He died in Des Moines on June 15, 1963.[18]

  • George Cosson 's papers are housed at University of Iowa's Special Collection

References

  1. ^ "Frank M. Hopkins". Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  2. ^ "Anthony Milroy McColl". Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  3. ^ "Audubon Officials". The Daily Nonpareil. December 7, 1904. p. 8. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "George Cosson" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. p. 686. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Audubon County Election Returns". Audubon County Journal. November 10, 1904. p. 3. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  6. ^ "The Official Ballot-Audubon County". Audubon Republican. November 1, 1906. p. 10. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  7. ^ "Audubon County Election Results". Audubon County Journal. November 8, 1906. p. 6. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  8. ^ "Attorney General Names Assistant". The Des Moines Register. May 4, 1907. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  9. ^ "George Cosson Has Resigned". The Gazette. May 12, 1908. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  10. ^ "1908 Primary Election" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. November 8, 1908. p. 617. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  11. ^ "1908 General Election" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. November 3, 1908. p. 507. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  12. ^ a b "STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE SENATE" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. pp. 156–158, 160. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  13. ^ a b "1910 General Election" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. p. 444. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  14. ^ a b "1912 General Election" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. p. 180. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  15. ^ "1916 Primary Election" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. p. 389-390. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  16. ^ a b c d "Senatorial Vote". Des Moines Register. June 22, 1932. p. 15. Retrieved January 28, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ a b c d Iowa Official Register, 1933–34 (PDF). pp. 146–47.
  18. ^ a b c d "Cosson Dies; Held High State Office". Des Moines Tribune. June 15, 1963. p. 1. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Are Wedded in Indianola". The Des Moines Register. December 29, 1904. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
  20. ^ a b "Mrs. Cosson's Rites Monday". Des Moines Tribune. February 6, 1943. p. 2. Retrieved November 17, 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.