James Franklin Aldrich (April 6, 1853 – March 8, 1933) was a United States Representative from Illinois. He was born in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. He moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois in April 1861 where he attended the public schools. Later, he attended Chicago University and was graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York in 1877. He engaged in the manufacture of linseed oil and later engaged in the gas business.

Aldrich was a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners 1886-1888, serving as president in 1887. He was also a member of the county board of education in 1887 and commissioner of public works of Chicago from May 1, 1891 to January 1, 1893. Aldrich was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1897) and served as chairman, Committee on Accounts (Fifty-fourth Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1896.

After leaving Congress, Alrich was appointed Consul General at Havana, Cuba in 1897, but did not reach his post to serve owing to the sinking of the battleship Maine and to the war with Spain which followed. He was the receiver of national banks, and railroad appraiser, from 1898 until 1923. He died in Chicago at age 79 and was buried in Rosehill Cemetery.

[edit] References

• J. Frank Aldrich at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress