John Paul (politician, 1839)

John Paul

John Paul (born June 30, 1839 in Rockingham County , Virginia , †  November 1, 1901 in Harrisonburg , Virginia) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1881 and 1883 he represented the state of Virginia in the US House of Representatives ; then he became a federal judge .

Career

John Paul attended the public schools in his home country and Roanoke College in Salem . During the Civil War he served as a cavalry captain in a Virginia unit in the Confederate Army . After a subsequent law degree at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and his admission to the bar in 1867, he began to work in Harrisonburg in this profession. From 1870 to 1877 he was a district attorney in Rockingham County. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . Between 1877 and 1880 he was a member of the Virginia Senate . In 1878 he ran unsuccessfully for Congress .

In the congressional elections of 1880 Paul was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the seventh constituency of Virginia , where he succeeded John T. Harris on March 4, 1881 . After being re-elected, he could remain in Congress until his resignation on September 5, 1883. This took place after his appointment as judge. He should have given up his mandate anyway because an election objection by his opponent in the 1882 election, Charles Triplett O'Ferrall , was upheld.

From September 5, 1883 until his death on November 1, 1901, John Paul was a judge in the federal district court for the western part of Virginia. His son John (1883–1964) was also a member of Congress.

Web links

• John Paul in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• John Paul in the database of Find a Grave (English)