Horace Harrison Harrison (August 7, 1829 – December 20, 1885) was an American
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and a member of 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 ...
for the
5th congressional district of
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
.
He was the last Republican to serve as representative from Tennessee’s 5th congressional district until
Andy Ogles
William Andrew Ogles IV (born June 18, 1971) is an American far-right politician and businessman who has served as the U.S. representative from Tennessee's 5th congressional district since 2023 and served as mayor of Maury County, Tennessee, ...
was elected in 2022.
Biography
Harrison was born 7 August 1829 in
Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metropolit ...
in
Wilson County to Joshua Stone Harrison and Judith Coleman Turner. He attended Carroll Academy and completed the course in ancient
classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
under a private instructor. He moved with his parents to
McMinnville,
Warren County, Tennessee
Warren County is a county located on the Cumberland Plateau in Middle Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 39,839. Its county seat is McMinnville. Warren County ...
in 1841.
Career
In Warren County, Harrison was clerk of the county court, master of the
chancery court
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...
, and
register of deeds
Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over ...
. In 1851 and 1852, he was clerk of the
Tennessee Senate. 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 ...
in 1857, and commenced practice in McMinnville. He moved to
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
in 1859 and continued the practice of law. He served as
United States Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...
from 1863 to 1866 and was a chancellor of the Nashville division in 1866. He was a judge of the
Tennessee Supreme Court in 1867 and 1868, one of the judges serving on the highly partisan "apocryphal" court, which was in place in Tennessee between the end of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
and the enactment of the Constitution of 1870. The justices who served on this court "without exception, were bitter partisans" who "had all been Union men, and... took the partisan view of all questions growing out of the war". Of this group, Harrison is described as one of several "of mediocre ability, who could not by possibility have reached a position of such importance in ordinary times". He was again a United States district attorney in 1872 and 1873.
Harrison was elected as a
Republican to the
Forty-third Congress
The 43rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1873, ...
, but was unsuccessful as a candidate for re-election. He served from March 4, 1873 to March 3, 1875. He is the last Republican to represent Tennessee's Fifth Congressional District. He was a delegate to the
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
in 1880. He was a member of the state legislature in 1880 and 1881.
Death
On December 20, 1885, at the age of 56 years, 135 days, Harrison died in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
. He is
interred
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
at
Mount Olivet Cemetery.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Horace
1829 births
1885 deaths
People from Lebanon, Tennessee
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives
Justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court
American prosecutors
United States Attorneys for the Middle District of Tennessee
19th-century American politicians
People from McMinnville, Tennessee
19th-century American judges