Abram Comingo

Abram Comingo (January 9, 1820 – November 10, 1889) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who represented Missouri in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1871, to March 4, 1875. A slaveholder prior to the Civil War, he was active in Missouri politics during the secession crisis and Reconstruction era and later served on a federal commission dealing with Native American land claims.

Comingo was born on January 9, 1820, near Harrodsburg in Mercer County, Kentucky. He was educated in Kentucky and attended Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, a prominent institution in the region. After completing his studies there, he read law and was admitted to the bar in 1847, beginning a legal career that would underpin his later public service.

In 1848, Comingo moved west to Independence, Missouri, where he established his law practice and became involved in local and state affairs. As sectional tensions mounted in the years leading up to the Civil War, he emerged as a political figure of note. In February 1861, he served as a delegate to the Missouri State convention that considered the question of secession and ultimately decided that Missouri would remain in the Union during the American Civil War. During the war, in May 1863, he was appointed provost marshal of the sixth district of Missouri, a position that involved significant responsibility for military and civil order in the district under Union authority.

Following the war, Comingo continued his public career in Jackson County. In 1868 he was elected recorder of deeds of Jackson County, Missouri, an office that managed property records at a time of rapid growth and legal adjustment in the postwar period. His work in local office and his prominence within the Democratic Party helped pave the way for his election to national office.

Comingo was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses, serving as a Representative from Missouri from March 4, 1871, to March 4, 1875. During his two terms in Congress he participated in the legislative debates of the Reconstruction era, representing the interests of his Missouri constituency in a period marked by political realignment, questions of civil rights, and the reintegration of former Confederate states. After completing his second term, he did not stand for re-election in 1874 and returned to private life.

In 1876, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Comingo to a federal commission established to arbitrate Sioux land claims in Dakota Territory, reflecting the continued expansion of federal involvement in the affairs of Native American nations and western lands. This appointment extended his public service beyond Missouri and into the broader issues of western settlement and Indian policy.

Later in life, Comingo relocated within Missouri. In 1881 he moved from Independence to Kansas City, Missouri, which was emerging as a major urban and commercial center in the region. He resided there until his death on November 10, 1889. Abram Comingo was interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri, a burial place for many of the city’s political and civic leaders.