Representative Seymour Howe Person

Seymour Howe Person (February 2, 1879 – April 7, 1957) was a lawyer and Republican politician from the U.S. state of Michigan who served in both houses of the Michigan Legislature and in the United States House of Representatives. He was born on a farm near Howell, Livingston County, Michigan, where he attended the local district schools and the Howell public schools, receiving a basic rural education typical of late nineteenth-century Michigan.

Person pursued higher education in law and enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He graduated from the law department of the university in 1901. In the same year he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Lansing, the state capital. Establishing himself in the legal community, he became a law partner of Patrick H. Kelley, who was also a prominent Republican figure in Michigan politics.

Building on his legal career, Person entered public service at the state level. He was elected as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the Ingham County 1st district, serving from 1915 to 1921. During these years he participated in legislative activity in a period marked by World War I and the early postwar era. After a hiatus from legislative office, he returned to the state legislature as a member of the Michigan Senate from the 14th district, serving from 1927 to 1931. In addition to his legislative duties, he was a delegate to all Michigan Republican State conventions for thirty years, reflecting his long-standing involvement and influence within the party organization.

Person advanced to national office at the beginning of the Great Depression. In the 1930 Republican Party primary elections, he defeated the incumbent U.S. Representative Grant M. Hudson for the nomination in Michigan’s 6th congressional district. He subsequently won the general election and served in the 72nd United States Congress from March 4, 1931, to March 3, 1933. His single term in Congress coincided with the early years of the economic crisis and the closing period of the Hoover administration.

In 1932 Person was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the House of Representatives, losing in the general election to Democrat Claude E. Cady amid the broader national shift toward the Democratic Party during the New Deal realignment. Remaining active in Republican politics, he later sought to return to Congress and was an unsuccessful challenger to incumbent William W. Blackney in the Republican primary election of 1942.

After leaving Congress, Seymour H. Person resumed the practice of law in Lansing, continuing his professional career in the city where he had long resided. He maintained his connections to public life through his legal work and party activities. Person was also connected by marriage to the federal judiciary; he was the brother-in-law of Wiley Rutledge, who later served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Seymour Howe Person died in Lansing, Michigan, on April 7, 1957. He was interred in Deepdale Cemetery in Lansing, closing a career that spanned local, state, and national public service over several decades.