PRAY, Charles Nelson
About this object
1868–1963
Biography
PRAY, Charles Nelson, a Representative from Montana; born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, N.Y., April 6, 1868; attended the public schools in Salisbury and Middlebury, Vt.; graduate of the Middlebury High School; attended Middlebury (Vt.) College 1886-1888 and was graduated from the Chicago College of Law; was admitted to the bar in 1892 and commenced practice at Fort Benton, Mont., in 1896; served as assistant prosecuting attorney of Chouteau County in 1897 and 1898; elected prosecuting attorney in 1898 and reelected in 1900, 1902, and 1904; elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses (March 4, 1907-March 3, 1913); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third Congress; resumed the practice of law in Great Falls, Cascade County, Mont., January 1, 1914; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1916; appointed judge of the United States District Court of Montana on January 21, 1924, in which capacity he served until his retirement in 1957; died in Great Falls, Mont., September 12, 1963; interment in Hillcrest Lawn Memorial Cemetery.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]External Research Collections
University of Montana Libraries - Missoula
K. Ross Toole Archives, Maureen and Mike Mansfield
Library
Missoula, MT
Papers:
ca. 1878-1963, 36.5 linear feet.
Much of the collection relates to Charles Nelson Pray's career as a judge including case statements (1925-1957) which typically contain legal ledgers, statements and notes, and some correspondence. Cases include such parties as the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, the Great Northern Railway, and the Montana Power Company. The papers also include campaign materials from early Montana political campaigns, copies of speeches, and bills introduced by Charles Pray and others during his tenure in Congress, and a series of newspaper articles relating to early Montana elections. A finding aid is available in the repository.
Montana Historical Society
Library and Archives Department
Helena, MT
Papers:
1909-1964, 0.1 linear foot.
The collection consists of Charles Nelson Pray's correspondence, financial records, speeches to Congress on tariffs, mine rescue stations, Crow Indian land, election of senators, and homesteading. The papers also include a reminiscence entitled "Recollection Concerning the Establishment of Glacier National Park" and membership cards. Funeral memorial books and photographs have been transferred to the repository's Museum and Photograph Archives respectively.
[ Top ]