US Congressman. Real name Frederick Cramer Gilchrist. He was born one of six children (Cleland Gilchrist was born in 1860, Maude Gilchrist was born in 1861, Charles Willard Gilchrist was born in 1866, Grace Gilchrist was born in 1875, and Norma Lucille Gilchrist was born in 1876), in Washington, Pennsylvania, to James Cleland Gilchrist (one of the first superintendents of the Mason County, Iowa, schools in the early 1870s) and Hannah Cramer Gilchrist. He moved with his parents to Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 1871, and was still living in that area in 1880. He attended local public schools, and later graduated from the State Teachers' College in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 1886. He worked as a teacher and became a superintendent of schools in Laurens, Iowa, and Rolfe, Iowa, from 1886 until 1890, and in Pocahontas County, Iowa, from 1890 to 1892. He graduated from Iowa State University in Iowa City, Iowa, with a law degree in 1893, was admitted to the bar that same year, and commenced to practicing law in Laurens, Iowa. On January 17, 1896, he married Ellen Louise "Ella" Hurley in Laurens, Iowa, and the couple had three children together (Frances Helsell Gilchrist was born in 1897, Fred Cleland "Fritz or Torch" Gilchrist was born in 1898, and Hannah Mavis Gilchrist was born in 1900). The family would later live in both Swan Lake, Iowa, and Laurens, Iowa. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected to the seat that had been recently vacated by United States Representative Lester Jesse "L.J." Dickinson. A member of the Republican Party, he then entered politics and served Iowa's 6th, 8th, and 10th Districts (Seventy-Second Congress and to the six succeeding Congresses) in the United States House of Representatives from 1931 to 1945. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the 6th District in 1944. After his term in the United States Congress expired on January 3, 1945, he was succeeded by in office by United States Representative James Isaac Dolliver, who had won the seat in a primary election. After leaving the United States Congress he resumed his law practice shortly thereafter. He also served as a Member of the Iowa State House of Representatives from 1902 to 1904, Member of the Iowa State Senate from 1923 to 1931, and was President of the Board of Education of Laurens, Iowa, from 1905 to 1928. He passed away in a hospital following a serious illness of one week in Laurens, Iowa, on March 10, 1950, at the age of 81. His funeral was held at the Laurens Methodist Church in Laurens, Iowa, and he was buried in the Laurens Cemetery in that city. His wife Ellen passed away in 1961, at the age of 91, and she is buried with her husband. He was a member of the Freemasons and of the Masonic Lodge since 1892.