David Quin Eggleston (June 10, 1857 – October 17, 1909) was an American politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate and as

Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia __NOTOC__ The Secretary of the Commonwealth is a member of the Virginia Governor's Cabinet. The office is currently held by secretary Kay Coles James. Duties of the Secretary of the Commonwealth # Serving as the Keeper of the Seal of the Commonwe ...

Early life and education

David Quin Eggleston was born in 1857 in

Charlotte County, Virginia Charlotte County is a United States county located in the south central part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is the town of Charlotte Court House. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 11,529. Charlotte County is ...

, the son of John William Eggleston, a longtime member of the Charlotte County

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, and Lucy Nash Morton. Eggleston attended

Hampden–Sydney College gr, Ye Shall Know the Truth , established = , type = Private liberal arts men's college , religious_affiliation = Presbyterian Church (USA) , endowment = $258 million (2021) , president = Larry Stimpert , city = Hampden Sydney, Virginia , cou ...

and received a law degree from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. He was in the

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, as of 2022 it consists of 144 active chapters in the Unite ...

fraternity. He married Sue E. Daniel in 1883 and they had 6 children, including

John W. Eggleston John William Eggleston (June 18, 1886 – May 18, 1976) was a Virginia lawyer, politician and jurist whose tenure by the time of his death was the longest in the century. Early and family life Born at Charlotte Court House, Virginia, to David ...

, who later served as chief justice of the Virginia Superior Court of Appeals.

Legal and political career

Eggleston was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1879. He practiced law in

Charlotte Court House, Virginia Charlotte Court House is a town in and the county seat of Charlotte County, Virginia, United States. The population was 756 at the 2020 census. Geography The town is located near the center of Charlotte County. Virginia State Route 40 passes thro ...

, known as Smithville at the time, and began to participate in

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politics during that period. In the early 1890s, Eggleston served as vice president of the Virginia Real Estate Exchange. In 1892, Eggleston moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to serve as clerk for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...

. In 1897, Eggleston was elected as a member of the Senate of Virginia, representing Charlotte and

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

Counties. He served one term from 1897 to 1901. In May 1901, he was elected as one of the 100 members of the Virginia Constitutional Convention. While a member of the convention, he proposed several unsuccessful measures, including abolishing the county courts and city circuit courts and eliminating most state funding for schools that served

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

students. Eggleston voted with the majority to impose a system of

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...

es which resulted in the disenfranchisement of black voters and reduced the number of white voters in half.

Secretary of the Commonwealth

In 1901, the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

elected Eggleston to serve as

. The 1902 constitution made the office of secretary elective by the voters, and in 1905, Eggleston won the popular election to remain in office. As secretary, Eggleston was named as a defendant in an unsuccessful lawsuit that the Negro Industrial Association of Virginia filed against the commonwealth to contest the voting restrictions that were enacted by the Constitutional Convention. Eggleston was again the Democratic candidate for secretary in 1909, but he fell ill with pneumonia during the campaign.

Death

Eggleston died on October 17, 1909, and was buried in the family cemetery at

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggleston, David Q. 1857 births 1909 deaths University of Virginia School of Law alumni 19th-century American legislators Virginia lawyers 19th-century American lawyers People from Charlotte County, Virginia Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Virginia Democratic Party Virginia state senators 19th-century Virginia politicians