James Henderson BERRY, Congress, AR (1841-1913)

BERRY James Henderson , a Senator from Arkansas; born in Jackson County, Ala., May 15, 1841; moved to Arkansas with his parents, who settled in Carroll County in 1848; attended a private school in Berryville, Ark.; entered the Confederate Army in 1861 as a second lieutenant, Sixteenth Regiment, Arkansas Infantry; lost a leg in the Battle of Corinth, Miss., in 1862; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1866 and commenced practice in Berryville, Carroll County, Ark.; elected to the State house of representatives in 1866; reelected in 1872, and served as speaker in 1874; moved to Bentonville, Ark., in 1869 and continued the practice of law; chairman of the Democratic State convention in 1876; judge of the circuit court 1878-1882; elected Governor of Arkansas in 1882; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1885 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Augustus H. Garland; reelected in 1889, 1895, and 1901, and served from March 20, 1885, to March 3, 1907; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1906; chairman, Committee on Public Lands (Fifty-third Congress), Committee on Engrossed Bills (Fifty-ninth Congress); died in Bentonville, Benton County, Ark., January 30, 1913; interment in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Berry, James. An Autobiography of James Berry. Bentonville, Ark.: Democrat Press, 1913; Mulhollan, Paige E. "The Issues of the Davis-Berry Senatorial Campaign in 1906." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 20 (Summer 1961): 118-25.

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