Family Firsts
First set of brothers to serve in the House of Representatives: Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, Speaker of the House, and John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania served simultaneously in the 1st and 3rd Congresses (1789–1791; 1793–1795). |
First and only set of three brothers to have served in the House of Representatives simultaneously from 34th to the 36th Congresses (1855–1861), each representing a different state: Israel Washburn Jr. of Maine, Elihu Brown Washburne of Illinois, and Cadwallader Colden Washburn of Wisconsin. The Washburns had another brother, William Drew Washburn of Minnesota, who served from 46th to the 48th Congresses (1879-1885). The spelling on Elihu Washburne’s name is correct—he preferred to spell it with an “e.” |
First woman to succeed her husband in the House: Mae Ella Nolan of California succeeded her late husband, John Nolan of California, in a special election for the 67th Congress on January 23, 1923. |
Representative Frances Bolton of Ohio and her son, Representative Oliver Bolton of Ohio, are the only mother-son pair to have served simultaneously in Congress: from January 3, 1953 to January 3, 1957, and January 3, 1963 to January 3, 1965. |
First (and only) set of sisters to serve in Congress: From California, Loretta Sanchez and Linda Sánchez have served simultaneously since the 108th Congress (2003 to present). |
