Wyatt Aiken (December 14, 1863 – February 6, 1923) was elected to the

U.S. 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

South Carolina's 3rd congressional district The 3rd congressional district of South Carolina is a congressional district in western South Carolina bordering both Georgia and North Carolina. It includes all of Abbeville, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Oconee, P ...

. He served for six terms from 1903 to 1917.

Early life and family

Wyatt Aiken was born near Macon, Georgia on December 14, 1863. He was the son of David Wyatt Aiken, who was the 3rd district's representative from 1877 to 1887. He was reared in

Cokesbury Cokesbury is the retail division of the United Methodist Publishing House. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Cokesbury serves as an agency of the United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant d ...

, Abbeville County (now

Greenwood County Greenwood County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Greenwood County, Kansas Greenwood County (county code GW) is a county located in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county populat ...

). After attending the Cokesbury public schools and of

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, ...

, he served as the official court reporter for the second South Carolina judicial circuit and, later, for the eighth circuit.

During the Spanish American War

During the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

, he volunteered as a private in Company A, First South Carolina Regiment of Infantry. He was appointed battalion adjutant by Governor Ellerbe and acted as regimental quartermaster during the greater portion of his service. On November 10, 1898, he was mustered out in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-largest ...

Political career

Aiken was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1903 to March 3, 1917). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1916 and again in 1918.

Death and legacy

Following his retirement, he lived in Abbeville, South Carolina. Aiken died on February 6, 1923.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aiken, Wyatt 1863 births 1923 deaths People from Bibb County, Georgia American people of Scotch-Irish descent Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina People from Abbeville, South Carolina People from Cokesbury, South Carolina American military personnel of the Spanish–American War