Representative Jasper Napoleon Tincher

Jasper Napoleon Tincher (November 2, 1878 – November 6, 1951) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas who served four consecutive terms in Congress from 1919 to 1927. He was born near Browning, Linn County, Missouri, where he spent his early childhood before moving with his parents in 1892 to Medicine Lodge, Barber County, Kansas, a developing community in the south-central part of the state. His upbringing in rural Missouri and Kansas, in an era of agricultural expansion on the Great Plains, would later inform his professional interests in farming, stock raising, and the concerns of rural constituents.

Tincher attended the common schools and high school in Kansas, receiving the basic education typical of small-town Midwestern communities at the turn of the twentieth century. As a young man, he began his career in education, teaching school in Hardtner, Kansas, from 1896 until February 1899. This early experience as a schoolteacher provided him with familiarity with local communities and their needs, and it preceded his decision to pursue a career in law.

While still a young adult, Tincher worked and studied in a law office, following the then-common practice of “reading law” rather than attending a formal law school. He was admitted to the bar in May 1899 and commenced the practice of law in Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Alongside his legal practice, he became interested in farming and stock raising, reflecting both the economic base of his region and his own engagement with agricultural affairs. His dual involvement in law and agriculture positioned him as a representative figure of rural Kansas professional life in the early twentieth century.

Building on his local prominence as an attorney and agricultural advocate, Tincher entered national politics as a member of the Republican Party. He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-sixth Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1919, to March 3, 1927. During these four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, he represented Kansas during a significant period in American history that encompassed the immediate post–World War I years, the early 1920s agricultural downturn, and the beginning of the modern regulatory state. As a member of the House of Representatives, Jasper Napoleon Tincher participated in the legislative process and the broader democratic system, representing the interests of his Kansas constituents and contributing to debates on issues affecting both his state and the nation.

Tincher’s congressional service coincided with the Republican dominance of national politics in the 1920s and the party’s efforts to address postwar economic adjustment, agricultural policy, and domestic reform. A member of the Republican Party throughout his tenure, he took part in shaping legislation during a time when questions of farm credit, price supports, and rural infrastructure were of particular concern in Kansas and across the Midwest. His background in farming and stock raising, combined with his legal expertise, informed his approach to representing a largely agricultural district and engaging with the challenges facing rural communities in the interwar period.

After serving four terms, Tincher chose not to be a candidate for renomination in 1926, thus concluding his congressional career at the close of the Sixty-ninth Congress. That same year, he moved from Medicine Lodge to Hutchinson, Kansas, an important commercial and rail center in the state. In Hutchinson he resumed the practice of law, continuing his professional work outside of elective office. He remained active in his legal career there for the remainder of his life, maintaining his connection to Kansas public and civic life even after leaving Congress.

Jasper Napoleon Tincher died in Hutchinson, Kansas, on November 6, 1951, four days after his seventy-third birthday. He was interred in Memorial Park Cemetery, leaving a record as a lawyer, educator, farmer, and four-term U.S. Representative who served Kansas during a transformative period in the early twentieth century.