Lafayette (Lafe) Pence (December 23, 1857 – October 22, 1923) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

from 1893 to 1895.

Biography

Born in Columbus, Indiana, Pence attended the common schools. He was graduated from Hanover (Indiana) College in 1877. He studied law. He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1878 and practiced in Columbus, Indiana, until September 1879, when he moved to Winfield, Kansas. He moved to

Rico, Colorado Rico is an incorporated small town in Dolores County, Colorado, United States. It was settled in 1879 as a silver mining center in the Pioneer Mining District; today it functions as a historic and tourism site. The population was 265 at the 20 ...

, in 1881 and continued the practice of law until 1884.

Career

He served as member of the State house of representatives in 1885. He settled in Denver in 1885 and continued the practice of law. He served as prosecuting attorney for Arapahoe County in 1887 and 1888.

Congress

Pence was elected as a Populist to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1895). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress.

Later career

He moved to New York City and engaged in railroad work. He returned to Denver and from there moved to

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and subsequently to Washington, D.C., and continued the practice of law. He also engaged in hydraulic mining in Breckenridge, Colorado, and Portland, Oregon.

Death and burial

He died in Washington, D.C., October 22, 1923. He was interred in Garland Brook Cemetery, Columbus, Indiana.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pence, Lafayette (Lafe) 1857 births 1923 deaths People from Columbus, Indiana People's Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Colorado Hanover College alumni