The federal line I: from Colfax to the war generation

1855 – 1959

The seat and its numbers: South Bend's congressional seat has worn three numbers across this record: the Ninth in Colfax's day, the Thirteenth through the early twentieth century, the Third from the 1930s — and since 2003 the Second, when the post-2000 redistricting moved the Second to replace most of what had been the Third. The succession is printed whole, with each holder's base stated as the record gives it: the seat is South Bend's, but not every holder has been.

Colfax, cross-referenced: Schuyler Colfax — congressman 1855–1869, Speaker of the House, Vice President of the United States — is the summit of the line and is profiled at full size in the People section, including the Crédit Mobilier end of his career. He stands here as the succession's first name and its measure.

Shively, the senator: Benjamin Franklin Shively was born on 20 March 1857 near Osceola, in St. Joseph County, and published the Greenback newspaper South Bend Era from 1880. Elected as a Greenbacker and Anti-Monopolist to fill the Calkins vacancy, he sat in the House from 1 December 1884 to 3 March 1885 — the youngest member of that Congress — then read law at Michigan, took his degree in 1886, and practiced in South Bend. Returned as a Democrat, he held the Thirteenth District from 1887 to 1893; he was his party's nominee for governor in 1896; and on 4 March 1909 he entered the United States Senate, was re-elected in 1914, chaired the Committee on Pensions, and died in office on 14 March 1916 — the only United States senator this ground has produced, with his home in South Bend throughout.

Pettengill to Nimtz: Samuel B. Pettengill of South Bend held the seat from 1931 — elected to the Thirteenth District, redistricted into the Third — until his retirement on 3 January 1939. Robert A. Grant of South Bend followed, from 3 January 1939 to 3 January 1949; his second career, on the federal bench, has its own entry below. Then the seat passed hand to hand through the postwar decade, Thurman C. Crook, 1949–1951 — no South Bend man, but a Peru and Logansport attorney whose home at Macy stood inside the district; then Shepard J. Crumpacker Jr., 1951–1957, and F. Jay Nimtz, 1957–1959, South Bend men both. The entries for these three stand at the size of the succession itself — the full record of their service is the district's, and this section prints their place in its line rather than profiles the People section does not hold.

Sources:

1. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress — SHIVELY, Benjamin Franklin (S000371): born near Osceola, 20 March 1857; the South Bend Era; House 1 December 1884 – 3 March 1885 and 1887–1893 (13th District); nominee for governor 1896; Senate 4 March 1909 – 14 March 1916, died in office; chairman, Committee on Pensions.
2. The district's members record (Biographical Directory and House succession tables) — Pettengill 1931 – 3 January 1939; Grant 3 January 1939 – 3 January 1949; Crook 1949–1951; Crumpacker 1951–1957; Nimtz 1957–1959; the district numbered 13th, then 3rd, and from 2003 the 2nd drawn over most of the old 3rd.
3. The People section of this history — Schuyler Colfax, profiled in full.