Oscar S. Gifford

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Oscar Sherman Gifford (October 20, 1842 – January 16, 1913) was an American lawyer of Canton, South Dakota.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> He served six years in the United States House of Representatives, first as the non-voting delegate from the Dakota Territory, then as a full member of the House from South Dakota.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Biography

Oscar was born in Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, and moved with his parents to Wisconsin, settling in Rock County and then in Brown County, Illinois.<ref name=":0" /> He served as a private in the Union during the American Civil War.<ref name=":0" />

After the war, Gifford studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1871, beginning his practice in Canton, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> He was district attorney for Lincoln County, mayor of Canton, and a member of the state constitutional convention of South Dakota which convened at Sioux Falls on September 7, 1883.<ref name=":2" /> He was a Republican, and was twice elected as the Territorial delegate to Congress, and served from March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1889.<ref name=":1" />

Upon the admission of South Dakota as a state, it was allocated two seats in the U.S. House. Candidates ran at-large for Seat A or Seat B. Gifford was the first Congressman elected to Seat B, and served from November 2, 1889, to March 3, 1891.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was not a candidate for re-election in 1890, and resumed the practice of law in Canton. He was the first superintendent of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians and resigned in 1908.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He continued to live in Canton, where he died on January 16, 1913.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was interred in Forest Hill Cemetery in Canton.