Joseph Toole

Joseph Kemp Toole (b. May 12 1851, Savannah, Missouri - d. March 11 1929, San Francisco, California) was an American politician from Montana.

He attended public school in St. Joseph, Missouri, and the Western Military Academy in Newcastle, Kentucky. He moved to Helena, Montana in 1870; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1871 and commenced practice in Helena. Toole was district attorney of the third judicial district of Montana 1872-1876 and a member of the Montana Territorial House of Representatives 1879 - 1881; member and president of the Territorial council 1881-1883.

Toole was a delegate to the State constitutional conventions at Helena in 1884 and 1889; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses (March 4 1885 - March 3 1889); he did not seek renomination in 1888.

Toole was elected as the first Governor of Montana and served from November 8 1889, until January 1 1893. He resumed the practice of law in Helena. Toole was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1892 and 1904. He was again elected Governor in November 1900; reelected in 1904 and served from January 7 1901, until April 1 1908, when he resigned on account of ill health.

He lived in retirement, dividing his time between his home in Helena and San Francisco, California until his death in 1929, aged 77.

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