Langley, Katherine Gudger, c. 1888-1948

Katherine Emeline Gudger Langley (c. February 14, 1888 – August 15, 1948) was an American politician. The first woman elected to Congress from Kentucky, she served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky between 1927 and 1931. She was the wife of Kentucky Congressman John W. Langley and daughter of James M. Gudger, Jr., a four-term Congressman from North Carolina.

Born Katherine Emeline Gudger in Madison County, North Carolina, she graduated from the Woman's College, Richmond, Virginia in 1901 before attending Emerson College of Oratory. Langley taught at the Virginia Institute at Bristol, TN and worked as a secretary for her father before marrying John Langley and moving to Pikeville, Kentucky in 1905. Moving to Washington D.C. in 1907, she served as secretary for her husband for the eighteen years he served as a Congressman. From 1919 to 1925 she was clerk to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds while John Langley was chairman. She also held numerous appointed and elected public positions including vice chairman of the Republican State Central Committee of Kentucky from 1920 to 1922 and as an alternate delegate and delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1920 and 1924, respectively.

...