Representative from Woodbury county, was born on a farm in Ray county, Missouri, July 12, 1870. His father, John C. Burgess, was a native of Kentucky, his mother, Fanny Elliott, was a native of Virginia. Mr. Burgess is a product of the country school. Early in young manhood, he settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where he learned the printer's trade, and he was still young when he associated himself with the American Biscuit Company, which later became the National Biscuit Company. His advancement was rapid and in a few years he was superintendent of one of their largest factories, later being transferred to the largest plant. After a few years in this position, the longing for greater activity out of doors induced him to strike out for himself as a builder of homes and developer of sub-divisions in St. Joseph, Missouri, and after four years of marked success in St. Joseph, he located in Sioux City, January, 1912, where within the next twenty years, he built and sold more than seven hundred homes on the installment plan, without a single foreclosure. Mr. Burgess always handled his own properties exclusively, buying the raw undeveloped land and developing it into high class modern residence districts. In 1929 he organized the Hawkeye Building-Loan and Savings Association, of which he is president. He also served two terms as president of the Sioux City Real Estate Board and is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Boards. He is a member of the mortgage and finance division and the appraisal division of the national association. Member of the appraisal board of the Sioux City Real Estate Board; director of the Iowa Association of Real Estate Boards; director of the Sioux City Real Estate Board; chairman of legislative and taxation committee, Sioux City Real Estate Board; secretary of the Sioux City Real Estate Board, and councilor of the Iowa Association of Real Estate Boards. Mr. Burgess was married to Pearl M. Morse of Kansas City, Missouri, November 26, 1903. Serving first term in the legislature. A democrat.