George CURRY, Congress, NM (1861-1947)

1861-1947

CURRY, George, a Representative from New Mexico; born on Greenwood plantation, near Bayou Sara, La., April 3, 1861; attended the public schools; moved to the Territory of New Mexico in 1879 and worked on a cattle ranch until 1881; acted as post trader at Fort Stanton; engaged in the mercantile and stock business until 1886; deputy treasurer of Lincoln County in 1886 and 1887; elected county clerk in 1888, county assessor in 1890, and sheriff in 1892; member of the Territorial senate in 1894 and 1896, serving as president the latter year; lieutenant of the First Volunteer Cavalry, known as “Roosevelt’s Rough Riders,” in the Spanish-American War; sheriff of Otero County in 1899; resigned to join the Eleventh Volunteer Cavalry; lieutenant, provost marshal, and provost judge, with service in the Philippine Islands from December 16, 1899, to March 20, 1901; Governor of the Province of Camarines, Philippine Islands, in 1901; chief of police of the city of Manila, 1901; Governor of the Province of Isabela 1903-1905; Governor of the Province of Samar from 1905 to 1907, when he resigned; Governor of the Territory of New Mexico 1907-1911; upon the admission of New Mexico as a State into the Union was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-second Congress and served from January 8, 1912, to March 3, 1913; declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1912; engaged in the hotel business in Socorro, N.Mex.; private secretary to United States Senator Holm O. Bursum of New Mexico in 1921 and 1922; member of the International Boundary Commission, 1922-1927; moved to a ranch near Cutter, N.Mex.; served as State historian for New Mexico from 1945 until his death in Albuquerque, N.Mex., November 27, 1947; interment in National Cemetery, Santa Fe, N.Mex.

Bibliography

Curry, George. George Curry, 1861-1947; An Autobiography. Edited by H.B. Hening. 1958. Reprint, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995; Larson, Robert W. “The Profile of a New Mexico Progressive.” New Mexico Historical Review 45 (July 1970): 233-44.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present