Bernhard Martin Jacobsen

Education

Born in Tönder, (which was then a part of Schleswig, Germany but is now in Denmark), Jacobsen attended the public schools.

Career

He was the father of William South. Jacobsen, who succeeded him in Congress following his death. He learned to speak English while serving as a helper in a Clinton sawmill. He was employed as a clerk in a dry goods store until 1886, when he engaged in the mercantile business.

He served as postmaster of Clinton 1914–1923.

He retired from the mercantile business in 1927 and engaged in the industrial finance business. In 1930, Jacobsen was elected as a Democrat to represent Iowa"s 2nd congressional district, unseating incumbent Republican Congressman F. Dickinson Letts.

He was the first Democrat elected to the United States. House of Representatives from Iowa since 1916. Jacobsen"s defeat of Letts was particularly embarrassing for President Hoover, as the district included the President"s home in West Branch, Cedar County.

However, he died on June 30, 1936 in Rochester, Minnesota, after ten days of hospitalization.

He was interred in Springdale Cemetery, Clinton, Iowa.

Achievements

• In the next two elections (in which Iowa Democrats established, then retained, a clear majority of United States House seats), Jacobsen won by large margins. On June 1, 1936, Jacobsen won the Democratic primary for a fourth term, this time to the Seventy-fifth Congress.

Connections

Father:

Boh Jacobsen

Mother:

Magdelena (Tadsen) Jacobsen

Spouse:

Lena Trager

child:

Marvin Jacobsen

child:

Mistress C. L. Callendar Jacobsen

child:

Mistress J. M. Hammond Jacobsen

child:

Mistress P. W. Svenksen Jacobsen

child:

William Jacobsen