Aylett Hawes BUCKNER, Congress, MO (1816-1894)

BUCKNER Aylett Hawes , a Representative from Missouri; born in Fredericksburg, Va., December 14, 1816; attended Georgetown College, Washington, D.C., and the University of Virginia at Charlottesville; engaged in teaching for several years; moved to Palmyra, Mo., in 1837; served as deputy sheriff; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1838 and commenced practice in Bowling Green, Mo.; became editor of the Salt River Journal; elected clerk of the Pike County Court in 1841; moved to St. Louis, Mo., in 1850 and continued the practice of law; attorney for the Bank of the State of Missouri in 1852; appointed commissioner of public works in 1854 and served until 1855; returned to Pike County and settled on a farm near Bowling Green; elected judge of the third judicial circuit in 1857; delegate to the convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; moved to St. Charles, Mo., in 1862 and became interested in the manufacture of tobacco in St. Louis; also engaged in mercantile pursuits; moved to Mexico, Audrain County; member of the Democratic central committee in 1868; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1872; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-third and to the five succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1873-March 3, 1885); chairman, Committee on District of Columbia (Forty-fourth Congress), Committee on Banking and Currency (Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-eighth Congresses); declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1884 and retired from public life; died in Mexico, Mo., February 5, 1894; interment in Elmwood Cemetery.

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