James Israel Standifer (April 19, 1779 – August 20, 1837) was an American politician who represented
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 ...
in 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 ...
.
Biography
Standifer was born on April 19, 1779, in Henry County, son of Israel and Susannah Heard Standifer. He married his cousin, Martha "Patsy" Standifer on February 2, 1801, in Knox County, Tennessee. She was the daughter of William and Jemima Jones Standifer, born January 19, 1783, in Henry County, Virginia, and died June 15, 1848, in Tennessee. He attended the
common school A common school was a public school in the United States during the 19th century. Horace Mann (1796–1859) was a strong advocate for public education and the common school. In 1837, the state of Massachusetts appointed Mann as the first secretary o ...
s and graduated from the
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
at
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...
. He owned slaves.
Career
During the War of 1812, Standifer enlisted as a private, was promoted to captain and served from September 30, 1813, to December 30, 1813. He reenlisted on January 20, 1814, and served under Colonel John Brown in the East Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Gunmen. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and served until March 11, 1814.
Standifer was elected to the
Eighteenth Congress, representing the 3rd district, which lasted from March 4, 1823, to March 4, 1825. He was also elected as a
Jacksonian to the
Twenty-first Congress
The 21st 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, 1829, ...
through the
Twenty-third Congress
The 23rd 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, 1833, ...
, as a
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
supporter (Anti-Jacksonian) to the
Twenty-fourth Congress
The 24th 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, 1835, ...
, and as a
Whig to the
Twenty-fifth Congress
The 25th 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, 183 ...
. He served from March 4, 1829, until his death near
Kingston, Tennessee
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, United States. This city is thirty-six miles southwest of Knoxville. It had a population of 5,934 at the 2010 United States census, and is included in the Harriman Micropolit ...
, on his way 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, ...
When White ran for president in 1836, it split the Democratic Party in Tennessee so badly that the Whigs carried the state in presidential elections for the next twenty years. President Jackson demanded the Tennessee congressional delegation back his vice president, Martin Van Buren of New York, as his successor. From a review of the historical record, it is clear that Congressman James Standifer, who represented the Sequatchie Valley just west of modern Chattanooga, was the chief instigator of the presidential campaign of Hugh Lawson White (see "James Standifer, Sequatchie Valley Congressman," by Steve Byas, Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Summer 1991).
Death
Standifer died near Kingston, Roane County, Tennessee, on August 20, 1837 (age about 55 years) while returning to Washington for a Congressional session. 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 Baptist Cemetery, Kingston, Tennessee**. The cause cited for his death was pneumonia.
**According to the assistant archivist for Roane County, TN.:
They have death records as far back as 1804 and they have never come across this man or any record of his death. She said that back then, the government would send out a coroner to investigate an official's death to make sure he had not been murdered. Since he was a Congressman, there would have been some record of him being in (or even passing thru) Kingston ~ especially if he died somewhere in Roane county. The Historical Society has recorded almost all the cemeteries in the county and has never come across anything for this man. She said "it's a story that just won't die". She also stated that there is no record of a "Baptist Cemetery" in Kingston, TN.
While the assistant archivist for Roane County finds no record of his death there, his death was reported in newspapers around the country, and multiple papers listed the death as "near Kingston."
[Tarboro Press, Tarboro, NC, September 9, 1837.]
See also
*
References
External links
James Israel Standifer on Elizabeth's Elders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Standifer, James Israel
1779 births
1837 deaths
People from Virginia
American people of English descent
Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
Jacksonian members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
University of Tennessee alumni
American militia officers
American militiamen in the War of 1812
Military personnel from Tennessee
Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves