John Chiles Houk (February 26, 1860 – June 3, 1923) was an American politician 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for the 2nd 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 ...

Biography

Houk was born in

Clinton, Tennessee Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, Tennessee, United States. Clinton is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area. Its population was 10,056 at the 2020 census. History Prehistoric Native American habitation was n ...

in Anderson County on February 26, 1860, son of Leonidas C. Houk and Elizabeth Houk. He attended the local schools, and moved with his parents to

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' ...

in 1871. He 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.

Career

Employed as a clerk in the Pensions Bureau at

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, ...

, Houk worked from 1881 to 1883. He studied law at Columbian (now George Washington) University in

He 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 1884, and he commenced practice in Knoxville. Houk was a secretary of the state

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

committee for four years. He was Assistant Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives in the

Fifty-first Congress The 51st United States Congress, referred to by some critics as the Billion Dollar 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 Rep ...

. Elected as a

to the Fifty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father, Leonidas C. Houk, Houk was re-elected to the Fifty-third Congress and served from December 7, 1891 to March 3, 1895. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1894. Houk served in the

Tennessee Senate The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue rega ...

from 1897 to 1899, from 1911 to 1913, and from 1917 to 1923. He resumed the practice of law in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Death

Houk died in

Fountain City, Tennessee Fountain City is a neighborhood in northern Knoxville, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Although not a census-designated place (it is grouped with Knoxville for census-purposes), the populations of the two ZIP codes that serve Fount ...

in Knox County on June 3, 1923 (age 63 years, 97 days). 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 Greenwood Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Houk, John Chiles 1860 births 1923 deaths Republican Party Tennessee state senators Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee People from Clinton, Tennessee People from Knoxville, Tennessee