James Harding Southard (January 20, 1851 – February 20, 1919) was an American lawyer and politician who served six terms as a U.S. Representative from

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

from 1895 to 1907.

Biography

Born near

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnat ...

, in

Washington Township, Lucas County, Ohio Washington Township is one of the eleven townships of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 3,055 people in the township. Communities *Alexis Addition is an unincorporated community located at and is completely surrounded b ...

, Southard attended the public schools and was graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named ...

, in 1874. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1877 and commenced practice in

. He was appointed assistant prosecuting attorney of Lucas County in 1882. Twice elected prosecuting attorney of the county, he served in that office six years.

Congress

Southard was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1907). He served as chairman of the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures ( Fifty-sixth through Fifty-ninth Congresses). During his time in Congress, Southard passed legislation establishing the National Bureau of Standards, and introduced a bill (though it never passed) requiring the U.S. to adopt the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Intern ...

.John Perry, ''The Story of Standards'', Funk and Wagnalls, 1953, Library of Congress Cat. No. 55-11094, p. 123 He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1906 to the Sixtieth Congress.

Private life

He resumed the practice of law in

, until his death there February 20, 1919. He was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery. Southard married Carrie T. Wales of Toledo in 1883. They had three children. He was a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and an Elk.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Southard, James Harding 1851 births 1919 deaths Cornell University alumni Politicians from Toledo, Ohio Ohio lawyers County district attorneys in Ohio 19th-century American politicians Lawyers from Toledo, Ohio 19th-century American lawyers Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio