Frank Boyd Gary (March 9, 1860December 7, 1922) was a

United States senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

from

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Born in

Cokesbury, South Carolina Cokesbury is a census-designated place (CDP) in Greenwood County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 215 at the 2010 census, down from 279 in 2000. History The name "Cokesbury" is a combination of the names of two prominent bishops ...

, he attended the Cokesbury Conference School and

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

(

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

). He studied law, was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

and commenced practice in

Abbeville, South Carolina Abbeville is a city and county seat of Abbeville County, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is located west of Columbia and south of Greenville. Its population was 5,237 at the 2010 census. Settled by French Huguenot settlers, it was ...

in 1881. From 1890 to 1900 he was a member of the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seati ...

, serving as speaker from 1895 to 1900. He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1895 and was a member of the State house of representatives in 1906. Gary was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Asbury C. Latimer and served from March 6, 1908, to March 4, 1909; he was not a candidate for reelection in 1908, and after his time in the Senate he was again a member of the State house of representatives in 1910. He was elected judge of the eighth judicial circuit in 1912 and served until his death in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

in 1922; interment was in Long Cane Cemetery,

. Frank B. Gary was also appointed as special judge in Lexington County in the 1903 trial of

James H. Tillman James Hammond Tillman (June 27, 1869 – April 1, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician from South Carolina. Born in Edgefield County, he received his education in the Curryton Academy; the Virginia Military Institute; the Emerson Institut ...

(lieutenant governor of South Carolina and nephew of Senator "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman) for the murder of N.G. Gonzales (founding editor of ''

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

'', Columbia, SC's newspaper). It has been alleged that Gary was a "Tillmanite", although there is no strong evidence of his being partisan in the trial. However, the jury was considered highly rigged and partisan considering Tillman shot Gonzales in broad daylight with many eyewitnesses. Tillman was acquitted ostensibly on a self-defense theory, but more likely because the jury believed Tillman was justified. Gonzales had waged a virtual crusade against Tillman in the newspaper, helping ensure his defeat in the 1902 gubernatorial election.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gary, Frank 1860 births 1922 deaths Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives South Carolina state court judges Union College (New York) alumni Democratic Party United States senators from South Carolina People from Cokesbury, South Carolina