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 house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

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 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 ...

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 University of Nashville was a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It was established in 1806 as Cumberland College. It existed as a distinct entity until 1909; operating at various times a medical school, a four-year military college, a ...

. 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