James Proctor KNOTT, Congress, KY (1830-1911)

KNOTT James Proctor , a Representative from Kentucky; born in Raywick, near Lebanon, Marion County, Ky., on August 29, 1830; attended the public schools; studied law; moved to Memphis, Mo., in May 1850; was admitted to the bar in 1851 and commenced practice in Memphis, Mo.; member of the Missouri house of representatives in 1857 and resigned in August 1859; attorney general of Missouri in 1859 and 1860; returned to Kentucky and commenced the practice of law in Lebanon in 1863; elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1871); was not a candidate for renomination in 1870; again elected to the Forty-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1883); chairman, Committee on the Judiciary (Forty-fourth through Forty-sixth Congresses); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1882; one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1876 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against William W. Belknap, ex-Secretary of War; Governor of Kentucky 1883-1887; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1891; professor of civics and economics, Centre College, Danville, Ky., 1892-1894, and dean of its law school 1894-1901; died in Lebanon, Ky., June 18, 1911; interment in Ryder Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present