Leonidas C. Houk

Leonidas C. Houk

Leonidas Campbell Houk (born June 8, 1836 in Boyds Creek , Sevier County , Tennessee , †  May 25, 1891 in Knoxville , Tennessee) was an American politician . Between 1879 and 1891 he represented the state of Tennessee in the US House of Representatives .

Career

After the early death of his father, Houk grew up in poor circumstances. He only attended public schools for about three months. Otherwise he got textbooks and used them to teach himself. He then completed an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. In this profession he worked in Clinton for several years. In 1853 he was charged with a shooting and acquitted. It was through this process that he became interested in the legal system. After a subsequent law degree and his admission as a lawyer in 1859, he began to work in Clinton in his new profession.

During the civil war , Houk joined the Union army , in which he rose to the rank of colonel. But his health was undermined by his military service. Therefore, he had to quit the service on April 23, 1863. Politically, he became a member of the Republican Party . In 1864 he was one of their electors to officially elect Abraham Lincoln for the second time . In 1865, Houk was a delegate to a meeting to revise the Tennessee constitution. In the years 1868, 1880, 1884 and 1888 he also took part as a delegate at the respective Republican National Conventions . Between 1866 and 1870 he was a judge on the Circuit Court of Tennessee . He then moved to Knoxville, where he worked as a lawyer again. Within his party he gained dominant influence at the state level. Between 1873 and 1875 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Tennessee .

In the congressional elections of 1878 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the second constituency of Tennessee , where he succeeded Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh on March 4, 1879 . After six re-elections, he could remain in Congress until his death on May 25, 1891 . From 1881 to 1883 he was chairman of the Committee on War Claims . Leonidas died in an accident when he accidentally drank a bottle of arsenic solution . He was married twice. His son John was elected to succeed him in a by-election.

Web links

• Leonidas C. Houk in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Leonidas C. Houk in the database of Find a Grave (English)