Sherrard Clemens

Sherrard Clemens (1859)

Sherrard Clemens (born April 28, 1820 in Wheeling , Virginia , †  June 30, 1881 in St. Louis , Missouri ) was an American politician . Between 1852 and 1861 he represented the state of Virginia in the US House of Representatives twice .

Career

Born in what is now West Virginia , Sherrard Clemens was a cousin of Samuel Clemens who came to be known as Mark Twain . He first enrolled at the US Military Academy at West Point . After six months he gave up this training. After a subsequent law degree at Washington College and his admission to the bar in 1843, he began to work in Wheeling in this profession. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party .

After the resignation of the Member of Parliament George W. Thompson , Clemens was elected as his successor to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC at the by-election due for the 15th seat of Virginia , where he took up his new mandate on December 6, 1852. By March 3, 1853 he ended the current legislative period there. In the congressional elections of 1856 , Clemens was re-elected to the US House of Representatives in the tenth constituency of his state, where he succeeded Zedekiah Kidwell on March 4, 1857 . After being re-elected, he was able to complete two full legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1861 . These were shaped by the events leading up to the civil war .

In 1861, Clemens was a delegate at the meeting at which Virginia decided to leave the Union. Clemens was an opponent of this step. In the following years he practiced again as a lawyer in Wheeling. He later moved his residence and his law firm to St. Louis, where he died on June 30, 1881. Sherrard Clemens also became known through a duel with Jennings Wise, the son of Governor Henry A. Wise , in which Wise was unharmed, but Clemens was wounded.

Web links

• Sherrard Clemens in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Sherrard Clemens in the database of Find a Grave (English)