John Cosgrove was a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 representing Missouri's 6th congressional district

Missouri's 6th congressional district

Missouri's 6th congressional district takes in a large swath of land in rural northwest Missouri. Its largest voting population is centered in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the town of St. Joseph. The district includes all of Kansas City north of the Missouri River...

 from March 4, 1883 - March 3, 1885.

Cosgrove was born near Alexandria Bay, New York

Alexandria Bay, New York

Alexandria Bay is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 1,080 at the 2010 census.The Village of Alexandria Bay is in the Town of Alexandria.Keewaydin State Park is southeast of the village...

 in Jefferson County, New York

Jefferson County, New York

Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 116,229. It is named after Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States of America, and president at the time the county was created in 1805...

. He attended schools in Redwood, New York

Redwood, New York

Redwood is a census-designated place in Jefferson County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the area population was 584.Redwood is in the eastern part of the Town of Alexandria The community is near the southeast town line.-Geography:...

, studied law in Watertown, New York and was admitted to the bar in 1863.
He moved to Boonville, Missouri

Boonville, Missouri

This page is about the city in Missouri. For other communities of the same name, see Boonville Boonville is a city in Cooper County, Missouri, USA. The population was 8,202 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Cooper County. The city was the site of a skirmish early in the American Civil...

 in 1865 and was Boonville city attorney 1870-1871 and was elected prosecuting attorney of Cooper County, Missouri

Cooper County, Missouri

Cooper County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. In 2010, the population was 17,601. Its county seat is Boonville. The county was organized in 1818 and is named for Sarshall Cooper, a frontier settler who was killed by Indians near Arrow Rock in 1814.-Geography:According to the 2000...

 in 1872; delegate to the Democratic National Convention

Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...

s in 1872 and 1920; again city attorney of Boonville from April 1877 to April 1878 and from April 1879 to April 1881; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883 - March 3, 1885); was renominated in 1884, but withdrew before election day; resumed the practice of law

Practice of law

In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professional services of a lawyer or attorney at law, barrister,...

in Boonville, Mo., where he died August 15, 1925; interment in Walnut Grove Cemetery.