John Wesley Gaines (August 24, 1860 – July 4, 1926) 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
6th 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
Gaines was born in Wrecoe, near
Nashville, Tennessee
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 ...
in
Davidson County, son of John and Maria Wair Gaines. He attended private and public schools, in which he also taught. He studied law at home, studied medicine, and graduated from the
University of Nashville. He graduated from the
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
in Nashville, Tennessee in 1882. He never practiced medicine, but the day after graduation he resumed the study of law. 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 commenced practice in Nashville in 1885.
Career
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
Fifty-fifth and the five succeeding Congresses, Gaines served from March 4, 1897 to March 3, 1909. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1908 to the
Sixty-first Congress
The 61st United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1909, to ...
. He continued to practice law in Nashville, Tennessee.
Death
On July 4, 1926 (age 65 years, 314 days), Gaines died in Nashville. 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
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaines, John Wesley
1860 births
1926 deaths
People from Nashville, Tennessee
Vanderbilt University alumni
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee