Strait, Horace Burton

STRAIT, Horace Burton, a Representative from Minnesota; born in Potter County, Pa., January 26, 1835; attended the common schools; moved with his parents to Indiana in 1846; settled near Jordan, Minn., in 1855 and engaged in agricultural pursuits; moved to Shakopee, Minn., in 1860 and conducted a general store; entered the Union Army in 1862 as captain in the Ninth Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, being promoted to major in 1864; served at the close of the war as inspector general on the staff of General McArthur; honorably discharged in 1865; trustee of Minnesota Hospital for the Insane in 1866; mayor of Shakopee in 1870, 1871, and 1872; engaged in mercantile pursuits, manufacturing, and banking; elected as a Republican to the Forty-third, Forty-fourth, and Forty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1879); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1878 to the Forty-sixth Congress; elected to the Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, and Forty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1887); chairman, Committee on Militia (Forty-seventh Congress); resumed banking at Shakopee and also engaged in agricultural pursuits; died February 25, 1894, on a train at Juarez, Mexico, en route to the United States; interment in Valley Cemetery, Shakopee, Minn.