Representative Samuel Chapman Massingale

Samuel Chapman Massingale (August 2, 1870 – January 17, 1941) was an American politician and a Democratic U.S. Representative from Oklahoma who served in the United States Congress from 1935 to 1941. Over the course of four terms in office, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, representing the interests of his Oklahoma constituents in the House of Representatives.

Massingale was born on August 2, 1870, in Quitman, Clarke County, Mississippi, the son of George M. Massingale and Martha McGowan Massingale. He attended the local public schools and later enrolled at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, where he studied law. His early education in Mississippi provided the foundation for a legal and political career that would eventually span several states and culminate in national office.

In 1887, Massingale moved to Fort Worth, Texas. There he was employed for a short time as a section hand on the railroad while continuing his legal studies, reflecting both his determination to enter the legal profession and the economic realities of the era. He was admitted to the bar in 1895. After gaining admission to practice law, he relocated to what was then Oklahoma Territory and, in 1900, commenced the practice of law in Cordell, Oklahoma, which would remain his home base for much of his professional and political life.

During the Spanish–American War, Massingale served as a private in Company D, Second Texas Infantry, adding military service to his record of public engagement. He entered territorial politics soon afterward and served as a member of the Oklahoma Territorial Council in 1902, participating in the governance of the territory in the years leading up to statehood. In 1903 he married Anna Canaday, and the couple had four children. Seeking to extend his public service to the national level, he ran unsuccessfully for election to the Sixtieth Congress in 1906, an early indication of his long-standing ambition to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Massingale was eventually elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fourth Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1935, until his death on January 17, 1941. His tenure in Congress thus spanned four terms, during which he participated in the democratic process at the federal level and represented Oklahoma during the New Deal era and the approach of World War II. As a member of the House of Representatives, Samuel Chapman Massingale contributed to the legislative process and worked to advance the interests of his constituents in Oklahoma, aligning with the Democratic Party during a period of expansive federal legislation and economic recovery efforts.

Massingale died in office in Washington, D.C., on January 17, 1941, at the age of 70. His death brought an end to more than four decades of involvement in law and public affairs, from territorial governance to national legislative service. He was interred in Lawnview Cemetery in Cordell, Oklahoma, the community where he had established his legal practice at the turn of the century and which remained closely associated with his public life.