John Goff BALLENTINE, Congress, TN (1825-1915)

BALLENTINE John Goff , a Representative from Tennessee; born in Pulaski, Giles County, Tenn., May 20, 1825; was graduated from Wurtemberg Academy in 1841, from the University of Nashville in 1845, and from the law department of Harvard University in 1848; was a member of the faculty of Livingston Law School in New York; commenced the practice of law in Pulaski; moved to Mississippi about 1854; continued the practice of law and engaged in agricultural pursuits; settled in Memphis, Tenn., in 1860; served as a colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; returned to Pulaski, Tenn.; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1887); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1886; retired from active pursuits; died in Pulaski, Tenn., on November 23, 1915; interment in the New Pulaski Cemetery.

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