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ABCOCK, JOSEPH WEEKS, member of the United States house of representatives, has made a record which should be at once stimulating and encouraging to every young man who desires to secure a position of honor and to do a work of marked usefulness. Without the advantages of a liberal education or of political or family influence, he has made his way from the farm and the lumber yard to a place in the lower house of congress; and reaching this position when he was but forty-three, within a year he became chairman of one of the most important political committees in the country.

He was born at Swanton, Vermont, March 6, 1850. His parents were Ebenezer Wright and Mahala (Weeks) Babcock. His father was a farmer and manufacturer, a man of excellent judgment, and great force of character, earnest, persevering and industrious, who removed from Vermont to Butler county, Iowa, in 1855, and six years later to Cedar Falls, in the same state, where he built up an extensive lumber business. He continued in active management of his affairs until he was ninety years of age, when, on account of an accident, he was obliged to retire from business. On the paternal side the family ancestry is traced back to the Pilgrims. A distinguished ancestor on the maternal side was Joseph Weeks, from 1836 to 1840 a member of congress from New Hampshire.

Joseph Weeks Babcock attended the public schools and entered Cornell college, preparatory department, at Mount Vernon, Iowa; but as his preference was for business rather than professional life he did not complete the course of study. He was employed by his father and later by various firms in the lumber business, and in 1878 he purchased an interest in a lumber company by which he had been employed several years before. In 1881 the business (which was enlarged by the purchase of an extensive interest at Necedah, Wisconsin), was incorporated. Mr. Babcock became its secretary, which office he held for seventeen years. During this time he was also the active manager of affairs, and under his administration the