US Senator. Elected as a Democrat to represent North Dakota in the US Senate, he served from 1893 to 1899. Roach was born in Washington DC and educated at Gonzaga College and Georgetown University. He was a clerk in the Union Army Quartermaster's Department during the Civil War and then worked as a cashier for Washington's Citizens Bank. In 1879 he moved to the Dakota Territory, settling in Larimore, and became successful through land speculation and mail contracts. His first political office was one term (1885) in the Territorial House of Representatives. Upon North Dakota's admission to statehood in 1889, Roach ran unsuccessfully for Governor in the first state election and again in 1891, but was victorious in his 1892 bid for the US Senate. His arrival on Capitol Hill in 1893 was greeted with heated controversy. A flurry of newspaper reports (including from the New York Times) claimed that Roach had embezzled $60,000 from the Citizens Bank shortly before his departure for North Dakota; he allegedly avoided prosecution by returning the funds. A partisan effort was made to expel him from his seat, but it was ultimately decided that the Senate had no jurisdiction over members' conduct before their election to that body, and no further action was taken. The rest of Roach's term passed without incident. He was Chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate Trespasses upon Indian Lands, and a member of the Committees on Agriculture and Forestry, Indian Affairs, Irrigation, and on the Five Civilized Indian Tribes. Defeated for reelection in 1898, he withdrew from politics and lived in semi-retirement in Washington DC. Roach died suddenly during a business trip in New York City; he was interred at Congressional Cemetery.
US Senator. Elected as a Democrat to represent North Dakota in the US Senate, he served from 1893 to 1899. Roach was born in Washington DC and educated at Gonzaga College and Georgetown University. He was a clerk in the Union Army Quartermaster's Department during the Civil War and then worked as a cashier for Washington's Citizens Bank. In 1879 he moved to the Dakota Territory, settling in Larimore, and became successful through land speculation and mail contracts. His first political office was one term (1885) in the Territorial House of Representatives. Upon North Dakota's admission to statehood in 1889, Roach ran unsuccessfully for Governor in the first state election and again in 1891, but was victorious in his 1892 bid for the US Senate. His arrival on Capitol Hill in 1893 was greeted with heated controversy. A flurry of newspaper reports (including from the New York Times) claimed that Roach had embezzled $60,000 from the Citizens Bank shortly before his departure for North Dakota; he allegedly avoided prosecution by returning the funds. A partisan effort was made to expel him from his seat, but it was ultimately decided that the Senate had no jurisdiction over members' conduct before their election to that body, and no further action was taken. The rest of Roach's term passed without incident. He was Chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate Trespasses upon Indian Lands, and a member of the Committees on Agriculture and Forestry, Indian Affairs, Irrigation, and on the Five Civilized Indian Tribes. Defeated for reelection in 1898, he withdrew from politics and lived in semi-retirement in Washington DC. Roach died suddenly during a business trip in New York City; he was interred at Congressional Cemetery.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Roach memorials in:
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
