Calhoun, William Barron (29 December 1796–08 November 1865), lawyer, writer, and politician, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Andrew Calhoun, a merchant, and Martha Chamberlain. His father was one of the founders of Boston’s Park Street Church. Calhoun was prepared for college by Harvard graduate William Wells, then he attended Yale, graduating in 1814. While a senior at Yale, Calhoun was one of the editors of a student publication, the ...
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Calhoun, William Barron (1796-1865), lawyer, writer, and politician
Sylvia B. Larson
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Few, William (1748-1828), lawyer, politician, and banker
Robert E. Wright
Few, William (08 June 1748–16 July 1828), lawyer, politician, and banker, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, the son of William Few, a failed tobacco planter turned frontier farmer, and Mary Wheeler. Few’s family moved in 1758 to North Carolina, where young William received little formal schooling but enough skills and enough love for reading that the future Founding Father was able to educate himself. In the early 1770s, the Few family joined the Regulator movement, rural westerners’ sometimes violent opposition to unrepresentative coastal political control. The family lost one of William’s brothers, the family farm, and the family fortune in the struggle for more local autonomy. The Fews then moved to Georgia, leaving William behind to settle the family’s affairs, to farm, and to teach himself law....
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Gary, Martin Witherspoon (1831-1881), lawyer, politician, and Confederate general
Orville Vernon Burton
Gary, Martin Witherspoon (25 March 1831–09 April 1881), lawyer, politician, and Confederate general, was born in Cokesbury, South Carolina, the son of Thomas Reeder Gary, a physician, and Mary Anne Porter. Thomas Gary was a wealthy, upcountry slave owner. In addition to practicing medicine, he farmed and represented Abbeville District for two terms in the state legislature. Martin Gary was a pupil at the Cokesbury Methodist Conference school. He attended South Carolina College but was expelled along with others in his junior class for rebelling against an unpopular teacher. He graduated from Harvard with honors in June 1854. In November of that year he went to Edgefield, South Carolina, to study law with Chancellor James P. Carroll and was admitted to the bar in May 1855. Until his death, Gary maintained a highly successful criminal law practice in Edgefield. Reared a Methodist, he joined the Trinity Episcopal Church in Edgefield and became a vestryman....
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Hardin, Benjamin, Jr. (1784-1852), attorney, U.S. congressman, and Kentucky politician
Ronald Bruce Frankum
Hardin, Benjamin, Jr. (29 February 1784–24 September 1852), attorney, U.S. congressman, and Kentucky politician, was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the son of Benjamin Hardin, Sr., and his first cousin Sarah Hardin. Hardin’s father moved his family to Washington County, Kentucky, in 1788 and settled near Springfield. Hardin received his early educational training from family and tutors. He then read law under his cousin ...
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Johnson, Edward Austin (1860-1944), educator, lawyer, and politician
Elizabeth Zoe Vicary
Johnson, Edward Austin (23 November 1860–24 July 1944), educator, lawyer, and politician, was born near Raleigh, North Carolina, the son of Columbus Johnson and Eliza A. Smith, slaves. He was taught to read and write by Nancy Walton, a free African American, and later attended the Washington School, an establishment founded by philanthropic northerners in Raleigh. There he was introduced to the Congregational church and became a lifelong member. Johnson completed his education at Atlanta University in Georgia, graduating in 1883. To pay his way through college, he worked as a barber and taught in the summers. After graduation he worked as a teacher and principal, first in Atlanta at the Mitchell Street Public School (1883–1885) and then in Raleigh at the Washington School (1885–1891). While teaching in Raleigh he studied at Shaw University, obtaining a law degree in 1891. He joined the faculty shortly after graduation and became dean of the law school at Shaw two years later. He acquired a reputation as a highly capable lawyer, successfully arguing many cases before the North Carolina Supreme Court....
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Kershaw, Joseph Brevard (1822-1894), lawyer, soldier, and politician
Rod Paschall
Kershaw, Joseph Brevard (05 January 1822–13 April 1894), lawyer, soldier, and politician, was born in Camden, South Carolina, the son of John Kershaw, a judge, and Harriette Du Bose. The Kershaws were a distinguished South Carolina family. Joseph was named for his paternal grandfather, who had immigrated to America from England in 1748 and was prominent in the American Revolution. Joseph’s father was mayor of Camden for several years and served one term in the U.S. Congress. Joseph studied for a career in law in the offices of the distinguished South Carolina lawyer John M. De Saussure and passed the South Carolina bar at age twenty-one. In 1844 he married Lucretia Douglas; the couple had one son and four daughters. After practicing for several years, beginning in June 1844, he participated in the Mexican War as a volunteer, serving as a lieutenant in South Carolina’s Palmetto Regiment. In Mexico, he saw action in several battles but became ill and was evacuated back to the United States in June 1847. Kershaw was elected to the South Carolina state legislature in 1852 and 1854, and he was a member of the state’s 1860 secession convention that met in Charleston, South Carolina....
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Laughlin, Gail (1868-1952), feminist, lawyer, and state legislator
Elif Ö. Erginer
Laughlin, Gail (07 May 1868–13 March 1952), feminist, lawyer, and state legislator, was born Abbie Hill “Gail” Laughlin in Robbinston, Maine, the daughter of Robert Clark Laughlin, an ironworker, and Elizabeth Porter Stuart. After the death of her father, Laughlin’s indigent family moved to Saint Stephen, New Brunswick, where her mother’s family resided. In 1880 the family settled in Portland, Maine, where Laughlin graduated from Portland High School in 1886, receiving a medal for the highest marks....
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Lee, Samuel J. (1844-1895), politician and lawyer
Patrick G. Williams
Lee, Samuel J. (22 November 1844–01 April 1895), politician and lawyer, was born in bondage on a plantation in Abbeville District, South Carolina. A mulatto, he was probably the son of his owner, Samuel McGowan, and a slave woman. When McGowan entered Confederate service, Lee attended him in the camps and on the battlefield. Lee was wounded twice, at Second Manassas in 1862 and later near Hanover Junction, Virginia. After emancipation, he farmed in Abbeville District and then in Edgefield County, South Carolina, having settled in Hamburg. By 1870 Lee had accumulated at least $500 in real estate and $400 in personal property. Sometime before February 1872 he married a woman identified in legal documents as R. A. Lee; her maiden name is unknown....
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Mankin, Helen Douglas (1894-1956), lawyer and legislator
Lorraine Nelson Spritzer
Mankin, Helen Douglas (11 September 1894–25 July 1956), lawyer and legislator, was born Helen Douglas in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Hamilton Douglas and Corinne Williams, lawyers and educators. Mankin’s parents had earned law degrees together at the University of Michigan and then moved to Atlanta, where Mankin’s father practiced law and helped found Atlanta Law School. Denied admission to the Georgia bar because of her sex, Corinne Douglas became a teacher and a pioneer in the education of women....
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Mills, Ogden Livingston (23 August 1884–11 October 1937), lawyer, legislator, and secretary of the treasury
Martin L. Fausold
Mills, Ogden Livingston (23 August 1884–11 October 1937), lawyer, legislator, and secretary of the treasury, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the son of Ogden Mills, a business entrepreneur, and Ruth T. Livingston. His father’s family had made a fortune in California following the gold rush of 1849. Mills attended the Browning School in New York City and in 1901 was admitted to Harvard University, where he received his A.B. in 1905. He remained at Harvard to study law and was awarded the LL.B. in 1907. Admitted to the New York bar in 1908, he joined the important firm of Stetson, Jennings and Russell in New York City....
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Mills, Ogden Livingston (23 August 1884–11 October 1937)
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Ogden Livingston Mills [left to right] Andrew W. Mellon and Ogden Livingston Mills, outside the Capitol following closing session of the Sixty-ninth Congress, 1927. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-111367).
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Murphey, Archibald Debow (01 January 1777?–01 February 1832)
George W. Houston
Murphey, Archibald Debow (01 January 1777?–01 February 1832), lawyer and North Carolina state senator, was born in Caswell County in north-central North Carolina, one of the seven children of Archibald Murphey, an army officer and county clerk, and Jane Debow. Murphey attended David Caldwell’s academy in Guilford County, then entered the University of North Carolina, from which he graduated with highest distinction in 1799. He taught at the university for two years while studying law, and in 1801 he established a law practice in Hillsborough, the county seat of Orange County. In that same year he married Jane Armistead Scott. They had five children, the last born in 1812....
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O’Sullivan, John Louis (1813-1895), lawyer, journalist, and legislator
Robert D. Sampson
O’Sullivan, John Louis (13 November 1813–24 March 1895), lawyer, journalist, and legislator, was born aboard a British man-of-war off the coast of Gibraltar, the son of John Thomas O’Sullivan, a U.S. diplomat and sea captain, and Mary Rowly. Descended from a long line of colorful Irish expatriates and soldiers of fortune, in childhood O’Sullivan eagerly absorbed tales of the family’s adventures. The romantic twist of his birth aboard an enemy ship during the War of 1812 was repeated throughout his life’s uneven course. ...
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Raines, John (1840-1909), Republican politician, lawyer, and insurance agent
Samuel T. McSeveney
Raines, John (06 May 1840–16 December 1909), Republican politician, lawyer, and insurance agent, was born in Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, the son of John Raines, a Methodist minister, and Mary Remington. After attending local schools, Raines studied law and graduated from the Albany Law School in 1861. Some time after the outbreak of the Civil War that same year, Raines raised a military unit—Company G, Eighty-fifth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry—in which he served as captain, seeing service in Virginia and North Carolina, until his discharge in 1863. He married Catherine A. Wheeler in 1862, and they had six children before Catherine’s death in 1879. Following his return to civilian life, Raines practiced law in Geneva (in Ontario County) before moving to Canandaigua, the county seat, in 1867. There he was involved in law, an insurance business, and Republican politics....
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Root, Erastus (1773-1846), politician and lawyer
Donald M. Roper and Kenneth H. Williams
Root, Erastus (16 March 1773–24 December 1846), politician and lawyer, was born in Hebron, Connecticut, the son of William Root and Zeruiah Baldwin. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1793, he took a job as a school teacher; during his brief teaching career he published ...
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Spencer, John Canfield (1788-1855), lawyer, legislator, and cabinet member
Edward K. Spann
Spencer, John Canfield (08 January 1788–17 May 1855), lawyer, legislator, and cabinet member, was born in Hudson, New York, the son of Ambrose Spencer, a prominent lawyer and jurist, and Laura Canfield. He attended Williams College, then graduated from Union College in 1806. In 1807 he married Elizabeth Scott Smith, with whom he had four children. That same year he became the private secretary of Governor ...
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Taney, Roger Brooke (1777-1864), lawyer, politician, and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
Sandra F. VanBurkleo and Bonnie Speck
Taney, Roger Brooke (17 March 1777–12 October 1864), lawyer, politician, and chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was born in Calvert County, Maryland, the son of Michael Taney, a planter and politician, and Monica Brooke. The Taneys had been slaveholding planters since the first Taney arrived in Maryland in the 1660s, and at the time of Roger’s birth the family ranked among the most prestigious in the county. Originally Anglican, the Taneys had abandoned the English church for Catholicism well before the birth of Michael Taney, possibly in imitation of leading Maryland families....
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Taney, Roger Brooke (1777-1864)
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Roger B. Taney. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-107588).
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Van Vechten, Abraham (1762-1837), politician and lawyer
Donald M. Roper
Van Vechten, Abraham (05 December 1762–06 January 1837), politician and lawyer, was born in Catskill, New York, the son of Teunis Van Vechten. He received his early education in Esopus, and attended King’s College (later Columbia), as preparation for studying law in John Lansing...
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Van Winkle, Peter Godwin (1808-1872), lawyer, businessman, and politician
Leonard Schlup
Van Winkle, Peter Godwin (07 September 1808–15 April 1872), lawyer, businessman, and politician, was born in New York City, the son of Peter Van Winkle, a merchant, and Phoebe Godwin. Van Winkle attended local elementary and secondary schools. One of his interests was writing poems, which were published in several literary journals. In 1831 he married Juliette Rathbun of Paramus, New Jersey; they had six children, three of whom died in infancy. Van Winkle remained a widower after his wife’s death in 1844....
