Huck, Winnifred Sprague Mason, 1882-1936

Winnifred Mason Huck (September 14, 1882 – August 24, 1936) was an American journalist and politician from the state of Illinois who became the third woman to serve in the United States Congress, after Jeannette Rankin and Alice Mary Robertson, the first woman to represent Illinois in Congress, the first woman to win a special election for the United States Congress, and the first mother. She was elected to fill the at-large seat of her father, Representative William Ernest Mason, after his death.

Born Winnifred Sprague Mason in Chicago, Illinois, and attended public schools in Chicago and in Washington, D.C. In 1904, she married her high school sweetheart, Robert W. Huck. Robert Huck, a civil engineer, became a steel company executive, moving the family to Colorado. Later he worked as a construction engineer for the deep waterways commission, relocating the family to Chicago, where Winnifred Huck became active in her hometown community. Sje also worked as a secretary for her father.

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