Representative Theodore Weld Burdick

Theodore Weld Burdick (October 7, 1836 – July 16, 1898) was an American banker, Civil War veteran, and Republican politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Iowa’s 3rd congressional district from 1877 to 1879. His public career spanned local, state, and national office, and he was active in both military and civic affairs during a significant period in American history.

Burdick was born on October 7, 1836, in Evansburg, Pennsylvania, where he attended the common schools. In 1853 he moved with his parents to Decorah, in Winneshiek County, Iowa, which was then a developing frontier community. At the age of seventeen he became Decorah’s first schoolteacher, marking the beginning of his long engagement in public service and local affairs.

Burdick soon entered county government, serving as deputy treasurer and recorder of Winneshiek County from 1854 to 1857. He was then elected treasurer and recorder of the county, holding that combined office from 1858 until 1862. In 1862 he resigned his position in order to assist the Union cause in the Civil War, organizing a company of volunteers for service in the Union Army.

During the Civil War, Burdick was commissioned as a captain and assigned to Company D of the 6th Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. He served for three years in the Department of the Northwest, where his regiment was deployed in response to uprisings in southern Minnesota and Dakota Territory by Native Americans against settlers. After the regiment was mustered out of service in 1865, he returned to Decorah and entered the banking business, becoming cashier of the First National Bank, a position that established him as a leading figure in the local financial community.

In 1876, Burdick was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth Congress from Iowa’s 3rd congressional district. He served from March 4, 1877, to March 3, 1879, participating in the legislative process during the post-Reconstruction era and representing the interests of his constituents in northeastern Iowa. While in the U.S. House of Representatives, he served on the House Committee on Expenditures. In 1878 he declined to be a candidate for renomination, thereby limiting his congressional service to a single term.

After leaving Congress, Burdick resumed his career in banking. He continued his work in Decorah and was also engaged in banking activities in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, further extending his professional influence beyond Iowa. Remaining active in public life, he returned to elective office as a member of the Iowa Senate, serving in the state legislature in 1886 and 1887, where he contributed to state-level policymaking as a Republican legislator.

Burdick spent his later years principally in Decorah. He died there on July 16, 1898. He was interred in Phelps Cemetery in Decorah, Iowa.