James McDOWELL, Congress, VA (1795-1851)

McDOWELL James , a Representative from Virginia; born at ``Cherry Grove,'' near Rockbridge County, Va., October 13, 1795; attended a classical school at Greenville, Va., a private school at Brownsburg, Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), Lexington, Va., and Yale College; was graduated from Princeton College in 1817; studied law; was admitted to the bar but did not practice; member of the State house of delegates 1831-1835 and again in 1838; Governor of Virginia 1843-1846; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William Taylor; reelected to the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congresses and served from March 6, 1846, to March 3, 1851, chair, Committee on the District of Columbia (Twenty-ninth Congress); died on his estate ``Colalto'' near Lexington, Va., August 24, 1851; interment in Presbyterian Cemetery.

Bibliography

Collier, James Glen. ``The Political Career of James McDowell, 1830-1851.'' Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina, 1963.

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