John S. Barbour, Jr.

John Strode Barbour, Jr.
BARBOUR, John S (BEP engraved portrait).jpg
Engraved portrait of John S. Barbour, Jr.
United States Senator
from Virginia
In office
March 4, 1889  May 14, 1892
Preceded by Harrison H. Riddleberger
Succeeded by Eppa Hunton
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 8th district
In office
March 4, 1881  March 3, 1887
Preceded by Eppa Hunton, Jr.
Succeeded by William H. F. Lee
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office
1847-1851
Personal details
Born (1820-12-29)December 29, 1820
Culpeper, Virginia
Died May 14, 1892(1892-05-14) (aged 71)
Washington, D.C.
Political party Democratic

John Strode Barbour, Jr. (December 29, 1820  May 14, 1892) was a Representative and a Senator from Virginia. He is best remembered for taking power in Virginia from the short-lived Readjuster Party in the late 1880s, forming the first political machine of "Conservative Democrats", whose power was to last 80 years until the demise of the Byrd Organization in the late 1960s.

Youth, education

Barbour was born at Catalpa, near Culpeper, Virginia, the son of John S. Barbour. He attended the common schools and graduated from the law department of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice in Culpeper.

Career

Barbour served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1847 to 1851, and was president of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Co. from 1852 to 1881. He was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh, and the two succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1881 - March 3, 1887). There he served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia (Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses). He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1886.

In the late 1880s, Barbour is credited with taking on the Readjuster Party, a coalition of blacks, Republicans, and Conservative Democrats led by Harrison H. Riddleberger and William Mahone, forming the first political machine of "Conservative Democrats", whose power was to last 80 years until the demise of the Byrd Organization in the late 1960s.

Barbour was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1889, until his death in 1892 in Washington, D.C.. He was interred in the burial ground at "Poplar Hill," Prince George's County, Maryland.

Sources

    External links

    United States House of Representatives
    Preceded by
    Eppa Hunton, Jr.
    Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
    from Virginia's 8th congressional district

    March 4, 1881 – March 4, 1887
    Succeeded by
    William H. F. Lee
    United States Senate
    Preceded by
    Harrison H. Riddleberger
    U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Virginia
    March 4, 1889 – May 14, 1892
    Served alongside: John W. Daniel
    Succeeded by
    Eppa Hunton, Jr.


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