USA > Kentucky > History of Kentucky, Volume II > Part 75
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Sixty-fifth Congress-1917-1919
J. Crepps Wickliffe Beckham.
Ollie M. James. [Died August 28, 1918.]
George Brown Martin. [Appointed September 7, 1918, to serve out the unexpired term of Ollie M. James.]
Sixty-sixth Congress-1919-1921
J. Crepps Wickliffe Beckham; A. Owsley Stanley.
Sixty-seventh Congress-1921-1923
A. Owsley Stanley ; Richard Pretlow Ernst.
BIOGRAPIIIES OF UNITED STATES SENATORS FROM KENTUCKY
John Adair, a senator and a representative from Kentucky; born in Chester County, South Carolina, August 16, 1759; served in the Revo- lutionary war; moved to Kentucky in 1786; in an expedition against the Indians, under General Wilkinson in 1791 and 1792, was a maior of volunteers, and in 1793 a lieutenant-colonel under General Scott; member of the Kentucky Constitutional Convention in 1792; member of the State House of Representatives for several years, and served one year as speaker; register of the United States land office; elected as a democrat to the United States Senate, to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of John Breckinridge, and served from November 8, 1805, until 1806, when he resigned ; in 1813 was aid to Governor Shelby in the battle of the Thames; commander of the Kentucky rifle brigade, which served under General Jackson in 1814 and 1815, and distinguished himself in the battle of New Orleans; governor of Kentucky 1820-1824; elected as a democrat to the Twenty-second Congress ( March 4, 1831- March 3, 1833) ; died in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, May 19, 1840.
William Taylor Barry, a representative and a senator from Kentucky ; born in Lunenburg County, Virgina, February 15, 1784; was graduated from William and Mary College in 1803; studied law and began prac- tice in Lexington, Kentucky ; served in both branches of the State Legis- lature ; elected as a democrat to the Eleventh Congress to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Benjamin Howard, who was appointed
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territorial governor of Missouri, and served from December 13, 1810, to March 3, 1811; in the War of 1812 he was aid to Governor Shelby, and was present at the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813; elected to the United States Senate to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of George M. Bibb, and served from December 16, 1814, until he re- signed in 1816 to become judge of the Supreme Court of Kentucky ; elected lieutenant governor ; secretary of State of Kentucky ; appointed professor of law and politics in Transylvania University, Lexington, in 1821; chief justice of the Supreme Court of Kentucky; appointed postmaster general by President Jackson, March 9, 1829, and resigned April 10, 1835; was appointed minister to Spain; died in Liverpool, England, August 30, 1835, while upon the way to Madrid; interment in Frankfort, Kentucky.
James Burnie Beck, a representative and senator from Kentucky; born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, February 13, 1822; came to the United States with his parents, and settled in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1845; was graduated from the law school of the Transylvania University in 1846; practiced for twenty years; elected as a democrat to the Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-third Congresses ( March 4, 1867- March 3, 1875); in May, 1876, appointed member of the commission to define the boundary between Maryland and Virginia; elected a United States senator in 1877, 1882, and 1888, and served from March 4, 1877, until his death in Washington, D. C., May 3, 1890.
J. Crepps Wickliffe Beckham, democrat, of Frankfort, son of W. N. and Julia Wickliffe Beckham, was born near Bardstown, Nelson County, August 5, 1869; attended school at Roseland Academy, Bardstown, and Central University, Richmond, Kentucky; received degree of LL. D. from the university in 1902; served as page in the Kentucky House of Representatives in the session of 1881-1882; in 1888 became principal of the Bardstown Public School and taught three years in that position ; studied law and began to practice in 1893; same year was elected as representative of Nelson County to the General Assembly; served as such in the sessions of 1894, 1896, 1897, 1898, and in the latter session was Speaker of the House; in 1899 was democratic nominee for lieuten- ant governor on the ticket with William Goebel, candidate for governor, and in the contest before the General Assembly of 1900 was declared elected lieutenant governor at the same time that Goebel was declared elected governor. Upon the death of Governor Goebel, February 3, 1900, he became governor, and at the special election on November 6, 1900, was elected as the democratic nominee to fill out the unexpired term of Governor Goebel, ending December 8, 1903; in the state primary of 1903 was renominated and in the general election of November, 1903, was re-elected for a full term, ending December 10, 1907; in the state primary of November, 1906, was nominated as the democratic candi- date for the United States Senate, to succeed Hon. J. B. McCreary, but in the General Assembly of 1908, was defeated by Hon. W. O. Bradley, the republican nominee; resumed, in 1908, the practice of law in Frankfort, Kentucky; in the state primary of August I, 1914, was nominated by the democratic party for the United States Senate over Governor James B. McCreary and Congressman A. O. Stanley, and in the general election of November 3, 1914, was elected for the term beginning March 4, 1915, receiving 176,605 votes, to 144,758 for Hon. A. E. Willson, republican, and 14,108 for Hon. Burton Vance, pro- gressive. At the democratic national conventions at St. Louis, in 1904, Denver in 1908, and Baltimore in 1912, he was a delegate from the State at Large, and member of the committee on resolutions. Novem- ber 21, 1900, was married to Miss Jean Fuqua, of Owensboro, Ken-
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tucky ; they have two children, a daughter and a son. His term of service expired March 3, 1921. He was defeated for re-election by Richard P. Ernst.
George M. Bibb, a senator from Kentucky; born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, October 30, 1776; was graduated from Hampton- Sydney College, and from William and Mary College in 1792; studied law, admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Lexington, Ken- tucky; member of the State House of Representatives and Senate ; appointed judge of Kentucky Court of Appeals, January 30, 1808, and chief justice of that court May 30, 1809; served until March, 1810, when he resigned; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1811, to August 23, 1814, when he resigned ; was again ap- pointed chief justice January 5, 1827 and again resigned December 23. 1828; again elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1829, to March 3, 1835; chancellor of the Louisville Chancery Court from its establishment in 1835 to 1844; Secretary of the Treasury under President Tyler, and served from July 4, 1844, to March 8, 1845; re- sumed the practice of law in Washington, and was an assistant in the office of the Attorney General; died in Georgetown, D. C., April 14, 1859.
Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, a representative and a senator from Kentucky; born in Woodford County, Kentucky, October 1, 1838; at- tended Sayre Institute. Frankfort, Kentucky, and was graduated from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in 1857; studied law, admitted to the bar in 1858, and practiced until 1861 ; entered the Confederate Army in 1861, and served throughout the war; resumed the practice of law in 1865; elected to the State Legislature in 1871 and 1873; elected to the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, and Forty- eighth congresses ( March 4, 1875-March 3, 1885) ; elected to the United States Senate as a democrat ; re-elected, and served from March 4, 1885. to March 3, 1897; again elected to the United States Senate, and served from March 4, 1901, to March 3, 1907; appointed Isthmian Canal Com- missioner, 1907; resigned in 1909, and removed to his farm in Wood- ford County, Kentucky. He was subsequently appointed chairman of the Lincoln Memorial Association, and died while holding that position
Jesse Bledsoe, a senator from Kentucky; born in Culpeper County, Virginia, April 6, 1776; studied law and practiced in Kentucky ; pro- fessor of law in the Transylvania University ; secretary of state in 1808; member of the State Legislature in 1812; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4. 1813, until his resignation, December 24, 1814; member of the State Senate, 1816-1820; circuit judge of the Lexington Circuit ; removed to Mississippi and then to Texas, having abandoned the law for the ministry; died near Nacogdoches, Texas, June 30, 1837. Henry Clay said he was the most eloquent man he ever heard.
William O'Connell Bradley, a senator from Kentucky; born near Lancaster, Kentucky, March 18, 1847; attended local schools; was licensed to practice law by special act of the Legislature when eighteen years of age; was elected county attorney of Garrard County in 1870; republican candidate for Congress in 1872, and 1876, in a hopelessly democratic district ; delegate at large in six republican national conven- tions ; seconded the nomination of General Grant in 1880; defeated the motion to curtail southern representation in 1884, and seconded the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt for president in 1904; three times elected member of the Republican National Committee; received 105 votes for vice president in the convention of 1888; was indorsed for
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president by the Kentucky State Convention in 1896; appointed min- ister of Korea in 1889, but declined; defeated for governor in 1887; elected governor in 1895; was nominated by his party for United States senator, and voted for four times prior to 1908, and in February, 1908, was elected to the United States Senate for the term ending March 4, 1915, and took his seat, March 15, 1909. Died in 1914, while in office.
John Breckinridge, a senator from Kentucky; born in Augusta County, Virginia, December 2, 1760; attended William and Mary Col- lege, 1778-1780; studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced; member of the General Assembly of Virginia; moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he held several public offices, including attorney gen- eral of Kentucky in 1795, and member of the Legislature of Kentucky, 1795, and member of the Legislature, 1797-1800; elected as a democrat to the United States Senate, and served from March 4, 1801, until An- gust 7, 1805, when he resigned to accept the position of attorney gen- eral of the United States under President Jefferson, and served until his death in Lexington, Kentucky, December 14, 1806.
John Cabell Breckinridge, a representative and a senator from Ken- tucky; born near Lexington, Kentucky, January 21, 1821; attended Centre College; studied law in the Transylvania Institute, and was admitted to the bar; moved to Burlington, Iowa, but soon returned, and began to practice in Lexington; major of the Third Kentucky Volun- teers in the Mexican war; member of the State Legislature; elected as a democrat to the Thirty-second and Thirty-third congresses ( March 4, 1851-March 3, 1855) ; elected vice president of the United States in 1856; defeated as a candidate for president in 1860 by Abraham Lincoln ; elected to the United States Senate to succeed John J. Crittenden, whig, for the term beginning March 4, 1861 ; expelled, December 4, 1861 ; en- tered the Confederate Army as brigadier general, and became a major general; secretary of war of the Confederacy from January to the fall of the Confederacy in April, 1865; died in Lexington, Kentucky, May 17, 1875.
John Brown, a delegate and representative from Virginia, and a senator from Kentucky ; born in Staunton, Virginia, September 12, 1757; student at Princeton College; enlisted in the Revolutionary Army and served until the close of the war; completed his studies at the William and Mary College, Virginia; taught school and studied law; commenced practice in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1782; elected a member of the State Legislature of Virginia from the District of Kentucky in 1785; delegate from the Kentucky District of Virginia to the Continental Con- gresses, 1787-1788; elected to the First and Second congresses, and served from June 15, 1789, until November 5, 1792, when he took his seat in the United States Senate from the newly-admitted state of Kentucky ; re-elected, and served from June 18, 1792, to March 3, 1805; elected president of the Senate pro tempore, October 17, 1803, and Jan- uary 23, 1804; was a member of the Local Board of War for the Dis- trict of Kentucky in 1791; first member of Congress from the Missis- sippi Valley ; died in Frankfort, Kentucky, August 27, 1838.
Johnson Newlon Camden, of Kentucky, was born at Parkersburg, West Virginia, on the 5th day of January, 1865, the son of Johnson Newlon and Ann Thompson Camden. His father represented the State of West Virginia in the United States Senate from 1881 to 1887, and from 1893 to 1895. He was educated at the Episcopal High School, at Alexandria, Virginia ; Phillips Academy, at Andover, Massachusetts ; the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington, Virginia; the Columbia
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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY
Law School, New York City ; and the summer law school at the University of Virginia. He was married to Miss Susanna Preston Hart on the 16th of October, 1888, and has resided since 1890 at Spring Hill Farm, near Versailles, in Woodford County, Kentucky, where he has been engaged in farming, breeding and raising of fine cattle and thoroughbred horses, and he is also interested in the coal fields of Eastern Kentucky, in the opening and development of which he has been largely instru- mental. He was appointed by Governor James B. McCreary as senator from Kentucky on the 16th day of June, 1914, to fill the vacancy oc- casioned by the death of Senator William O. Bradley, his appointment under the law extending until the November election, 1914, at which election he was the democratic nominee for senator for the unexpired term ending March 4, 1915, and was elected over his two opponents, he having received 177,797 votes; William Marshall Bullitt, the repub- lican candidate receiving 133,139 votes; and George Nicholas, the pro- gressive candidate, receiving 13,641 votes.
John Griffin Carlisle, a representative and a senator from Kentucky ; born in Campbell (now Kenton) County, Kentucky, September 5, 1835; attended the common schools; studied law and was admitted to the bar in March, 1858; member of the State House of Representatives, 1859- 1861; elected to the State Senate in 1866 and re-elected in August, 1869; delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Convention in New York in July, 1868; lieutenant governor of Kentucky, served from August, 1871, to September, 1875; alternate presidential elector at large in 1876; elected to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, Forty- ninth, Fiftieth and Fifty-first congresses and served from March 4, 1877, to May 26, 1890, when he resigned; speaker of the House of Representatives in the Forty-eighth Forty-ninth and Fiftieth congresses ; elected to the United States Senate, to fill vacancy caused by the death of James B. Beck, and took his seat, May 26, 1890; resigned, February 21, 1893; secretary of the treasury, 1893-1897; moved to New York City, and practiced law; died in New York City, July 31, 1910; inter- ment in Linden Grove Cemetery, Covington, Kentucky.
Henry Clay, a representative and a senator from Kentucky; born in Hanover County, Virginia, April 12, 1777; attended public schools, and studied law in Richmond, Virginia; admitted to the bar in 1797, and commenced practice in Lexington, Kentucky; member of the State House of Representatives in 1803; elected a United States senator to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Adair; served from November 19, 1806, to March 3, 1807; again a member of the State House of Representatives, 1808-1809, and served as speaker the last year; again elected United States senator to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Buckner Thruston, and served from January 4, 1810, to March 3, 1811 ; elected a representative to the Twelfth and Thirteenth congresses ( March 4, 1811-March 3, 1815) ; was speaker of the House from November 4, 1811, to January 19, 1814, when he resigned; ap- pointed one of the commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain; re-elected to the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth congresses, and served as speaker from December 4, 1815, until Oc- tober 28, 1820, when he resigned; elected to the Eighteenth Congress (March 4, 1823-March 3, 1825) ; was speaker from December I, 1823, until the end of the Congress; appointed by President John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State and served from March 7, 1825 to March 3, 1829; again elected to the United States Senate; reelected and served from March 4, 1831, to March 31, 1842, when he resigned; defeated as the Whig candidate for President by Andrew Jackson in 1832, and again by James K. Polk in 1844; again elected to the United States Senate
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and served from March 4, 1849, until his death in Washington, D. C., June 29, 1852.
John Jordan Crittenden, a senator and representative from Kentucky; born near Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky, September 10, 1787; was graduated from William and Mary College in 1806; attorney general of Illinois Territory 1809-1810; served in War of 1812 as aid to Gover- nor Shelby ; practiced law in Russellville, Kentucky ; member of the state house of representatives in 1811-1817, and was speaker the last term; United States senator from Kentucky, and served from March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1819, when he resigned; removed to Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1819, served several years in the state house of representatives ; ap- pointed United States district attorney in 1827, but was removed by President Jackson in 1829; again United States senator and served from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1841; appointed attorney general of the United States by President Harrison, and served from March 5, 1841, to September 13, 1841 ; again appointed United States senator, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Henry Clay; subsequently elected to fill the vacancy and served from March 31, 1842, to June 12, 1848, when he resigned; elected governor of Kentucky in 1848 and served until July 22 1850, when he resigned; again appointed attorney general, and this time by President Fillmore, and served from July 22, 1850, to March 7, 1853; again elected United States senator and served from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1861 ; elected as a unionist to the Thirty- seventh Congress ( March 4, 1861-March 3, 1863) ; died in Frankfort, Kentucky, July 26, 1863.
Garrett Davis, a representative and a senator from Kentucky; born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, September 10, 1801 ; completed preparatory studies; employed in the office of the county clerk of Montgomery County and afterwards of Bourbon County; studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1823, and practiced in Paris, Kentucky; member of the state house of representatives in 1833-1835; delegate in the state constitutional convention of 1839; elected as a Henry Clay whig to the Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, and Twenty-ninth congresses ( March 4, 1839-March 3, 1847) ; declined reelection and resumed his professional and agricultural pursuits ; declined the nomination for lieutenant gover- nor on the ticket headed by John J. Crittenden in 1848; delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1849; elected as an old-line whig to the United States Senate to fill vacancy caused by the Senate expelling John C. Breckinridge; was relected and served from December 10, 1861, until his death, in Paris, Kentucky, September 22, 1872.
William Joseph Deboe, a senator from Kentucky; born in Crittenden County, Kentucky, June 30, 1849; attended the public and academic schools of the State and Ewing College, Illinois; studied law and after- wards studied medicine, and was graduated from the Medical University of Louisville; practiced a few years, when his health failed; renewed the study of law, was admitted to the bar ; served as superintendent of schools of Crittenden County; delegate to the national republican con- vention in Chicago in 1888; member of the Republican State Central Committee twelve years; defeated for Congress in 1892; state senator 1893-1898; delegate at large to the Republican National Convention in St. Louis in 1896, and chairman of the delegation ; elected as a republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1897, to March 3, 1903.
Archibald Dixon, a senator from Kentucky; born in Caswell County, North Carolina, April 2, 1802; moved with his father to Henderson County, Kentucky, in 1805; attended the common schools; studied law
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and was admitted to the bar, and began to practice in Henderson, Ken- tucky; member of the state house of representatives in 1830 and 1841 and of the State Senate in 1836; lieutenant governor in 1843; member of the state constitutional convention in 1849; elected as a whig to the United States Senate to fill vacancy caused by the death of Henry Clay, and served from September 1, 1852, until March 3, 1855; delegate to the Frankfort peace convention in 1863; died in Henderson, Kentucky, April 23, 1876.
John Edwards, a senator from Kentucky; born in Stafford County, Virginia, in 1755; moved to Fayette County, Kentucky, in 1780; member of the state house of representatives 1781-1783 and 1785; delegate to the state convention to ratify the Federal Constitution, June 26, 1788; a delegate in the eight conventions called to define the limits of the new State of Kentucky, 1785-1788, and in the convention of 1792 that framed the constitution of Kentucky; elected to the United States Senate and served from June 18, 1792, to March 3, 1795; died upon his plantation in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1837.
Richard Pretlow Ernst, republican, of Covington, Kentucky, where he was born on the 28th day of February, 1858, son of William and Sarah Butler Ernst and where he has since lived ; prepared for college at Cov- ington and at Chickerings Academy, Cincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated in 1874; after spending four years at Centre College, Danville, Ken- tucky, he graduated there in 1878 with the degree of B. A .; his legal edu- cation was received at the law school of the University of Cincinnati, has since practiced law in Kentucky and Ohio; in 1886 he married Susan Brent, daughter of Hugh Taylor Brent, of Covington, Kentucky, and has two children-William Ernst and Sarah Ernst Darnall, wife of John Palmer Darnall; at the election of November 2, 1920, he received 454,226 votes for senator, to 449,244 for his opponent, Senator J. Crepps Wickliffe Beckham, democrat.
James Guthrie, a senator from Kentucky; born in Nelson County. Kentucky, December 5, 1792; attended McAllister's academy, Bardstown, Kentucky ; studied law was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Bards- town, Kentucky; appointed commonwealth attorney in 1820 and moved to Louisville; member of the State Legislature for several years, serving in both branches; delegate and chosen president of the Kentucky Con- stitutional Convention; president of the University of Louisville, the Louisville and Portland Canal Company, and the Louisville and Nash- ville Railroad Company; appointed secretary of the treasury March 7. 1853, and served until March 5, 1857 ; elected as a democrat to the United States Senate, and served from March 4, 1865, to February 7, 1868, when he resigned; died in Louisville, Kentucky, March 13, 1869.
Martin Davis Hardin, a senator from Kentucky; born on the Monon- gahela River, Western Pennsylvania, June 21, 1780; pursued an academic course : studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Franklin County, Kentucky ; for a number of years a state representative ; secretary of state of Kentucky 1812-1816; served as major in the War of 1812; appointed and subsequently elected as a democrat to the United States Senate to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of William T. Barry, and served from November 13, 1816, to March 3, 1817; died in Frankfort, Kentucky, October 8, 1823.
Ollie M. James, democrat, of Marion, was born in Crittenden County, Kentucky, July 27, 1871 ; educated in the common and academic schools ; page in the Kentucky Legislature, session of 1887; studied law under his father. L. H. James; was admitted to the bar in 1891; was one
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of the attorneys for Governor Goebel in his celebrated contest for gover- nor of the State of Kentucky; delegate to the Democratic National Con- vention at Chicago, 1896, and delegate from the state at large to the Democratic National Convention at Denver, Colorado, in 1908, and elected chairman of the Kentucky delegation at all three conventions; made a speech seconding the nomination of William J. Bryan for President of the United States; served as chairman of the state convention of Kentucky in 1900 which sent delegates to the democratic national con- vention at Kansas City ; was married December 2, 1903, to Miss Ruth Thomas, of Marion, Kentucky; was elected to the Fifty-eighth, Fifty- ninth, Sixtieth, and Sixty-first congresses, and reelected to the Sixty- second Congress ; was nominated for United States Senator by democratic party of Kentucky in state-wide primary July 1, 1911, to succeed Senator T. H. Paynter; was elected to the Senate by the Kentucky Legislature on January 9, 1912, for the term of six years beginning March 4, 1913; was delegate from the state at large and elected permanent chairman of the Democratic National Convention held in Baltimore, Maryland, which nominated Governor Woodrow Wilson for President, and made speech notifying him of his nomination. He died at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, in the year 1918, after a lingering illness.
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