Harvey Butler Fergusson

Who was Harvey Butler Fergusson?

Harvey Butler Fergusson was a Delegate from the Territory of New Mexico and a U.S. Representative from New Mexico.

Born near Pickensville, Alabama, Fergusson attended the public schools in the state. He was graduated from Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, in 1873 and from the law department of that university in 1874. He taught in the Shenandoah Valley Academy, Winchester, Virginia. He was admitted to the bar in 1875 and commenced the practice of law in Wheeling, West Virginia.

He moved to White Oaks, New Mexico, in 1882, and to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1883. There he engaged in the practice of law and served as special United States attorney in 1893 and 1894. He also served as member of the Democratic National Committee 1896-1904.

Fergusson, a Democrat, was elected as a Delegate to the Fifty-fifth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1898 to the Fifty-sixth Congress and for election in 1902 to the Fifty-eighth Congress. Upon the admission of New Mexico as a State into the Union, Fergusson was elected to the Sixty-second Congress. He was reelected to the Sixty-third Congress and served from January 8, 1912, to March 3, 1915.