Representative David Grant Colson

David Grant Colson (April 1, 1861 – September 27, 1904) was an American politician from the State of Kentucky who served as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky’s 11th congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives from 1895 to 1899, contributing to the legislative process during two terms in office and participating in the democratic governance of a rapidly changing nation.

Colson was born on April 1, 1861, in Kentucky, during the opening year of the Civil War, and grew up in a region that would be deeply shaped by the conflict and its aftermath. Details of his early family life and schooling are sparse in the historical record, but his subsequent public career indicates that he received sufficient education and training to enter the legal profession and public affairs in a period when Kentucky was rebuilding its political and economic institutions.

Before entering national politics, Colson established himself in local and state government. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives, where he gained experience in legislative procedure and state-level policymaking. He also held municipal office as mayor of Middlesboro, Kentucky, a growing industrial and commercial center in the southeastern part of the state. In that role he was involved in the administration of local government at a time when Kentucky towns were grappling with issues of infrastructure, public order, and economic development in the post-Reconstruction era.

Colson’s state and local service provided the foundation for his election to the United States Congress. Running as a Republican in a predominantly Democratic state, he was elected to represent Kentucky’s 11th congressional district and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1895 to 1899. His tenure covered the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses, a significant period in American history marked by debates over tariffs, monetary policy, and the nation’s expanding role on the world stage. As a member of the House of Representatives, David Grant Colson participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents in southeastern Kentucky, engaging in the legislative work of the late nineteenth century as the United States moved toward the Spanish–American War and broader economic transformation.

After leaving Congress in 1899, Colson returned to private life and to the professional and civic pursuits that had preceded his national service. Although detailed records of his later activities are limited, his post-congressional years unfolded against the backdrop of the Progressive Era’s early stirrings, as Kentucky and the nation confronted questions of industrial regulation, political reform, and social change. He remained identified with the Republican Party and with the public career that had taken him from local office to the national legislature.

David Grant Colson died on September 27, 1904. He was interred in Colson Cemetery, reflecting his enduring ties to the Kentucky communities he had represented and served. His career, spanning municipal leadership, state legislative service, and two terms in the United States Congress, placed him among the notable Kentucky Republicans who helped shape the political life of the Commonwealth and the nation at the close of the nineteenth century.