US Congressman. A Republican, he was elected to represent Iowa's 6th District (now obsolete) in the Forty-Seventh and Forty-Eighth US Congresses. He served from 1881 until his death in in office. Cutts was born in Orwell, Addison County, Vermont, and studied at the St. Lawrence Academy in Potsdam, New York. He later studied law in Wisconsin while working as a schoolteacher. In 1855 he settled in Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he was admitted to the bar that same year and began his steady rise in state politics. He served as prosecuting attorney for Poweshiek County (1857 to 1858), in the Iowa State House of Representatives (1861, 1870 to 1872), the Iowa State Senate (1864 to 1866), and as Attorney General of Iowa (1872 to 1877). Cutts' short Congressional career was dogged by controversy. His victory in the 1880 election was contested by John C. Cook, his Democratic opponent, and after a two-year investigation the House Committee on Elections ruled that Cutts had indeed lost by a narrow margin. Cook was allowed to take his seat in the US House for only one day (the closing day of Congress) and collect his salary. In the meantime Cutts had indisputably won reelection in 1882, but by then he was ailing from tuberculosis and died six months into his second term. Cook was elected to fill the vacancy and served until 1885, after which he abandoned politics.
US Congressman. A Republican, he was elected to represent Iowa's 6th District (now obsolete) in the Forty-Seventh and Forty-Eighth US Congresses. He served from 1881 until his death in in office. Cutts was born in Orwell, Addison County, Vermont, and studied at the St. Lawrence Academy in Potsdam, New York. He later studied law in Wisconsin while working as a schoolteacher. In 1855 he settled in Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he was admitted to the bar that same year and began his steady rise in state politics. He served as prosecuting attorney for Poweshiek County (1857 to 1858), in the Iowa State House of Representatives (1861, 1870 to 1872), the Iowa State Senate (1864 to 1866), and as Attorney General of Iowa (1872 to 1877). Cutts' short Congressional career was dogged by controversy. His victory in the 1880 election was contested by John C. Cook, his Democratic opponent, and after a two-year investigation the House Committee on Elections ruled that Cutts had indeed lost by a narrow margin. Cook was allowed to take his seat in the US House for only one day (the closing day of Congress) and collect his salary. In the meantime Cutts had indisputably won reelection in 1882, but by then he was ailing from tuberculosis and died six months into his second term. Cook was elected to fill the vacancy and served until 1885, after which he abandoned politics.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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