Biography
A Representative from Virginia; born in Winchester, Frederick County, Va., April 5, 1853; attended private schools in Richmond and Middleburg, Va.; was graduated from the law department of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va., in 1876; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Staunton, Va.; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1897); was not a candidate for renomination in 1896; elected professor of constitutional law and equity in Washington and Lee University in 1897; dean of the law school of the same university in 1900, and dean of the school of law and diplomacy in George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1905; president of the Jamestown Exposition Co., 1905-1907; president of the American Bar Association in 1905; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the nomination for Governor in 1909 and again in 1921; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry D. Flood; reelected to the Sixty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from March 21, 1922, until his death in Lexington, Va., July 23, 1932; chair, Committee on Election of the President, Vice President, and Members in Congress (53rd Congress); interment in the Presbyterian Cemetery.
Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress