Charles James Faulkner (September 21, 1847January 13, 1929) was a

United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

Early life

Born on the family estate, "Boydville," near

Martinsburg, Virginia Martinsburg is a city in and the seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, in the tip of the state's Eastern Panhandle region in the lower Shenandoah Valley. Its population was 18,835 in the 2021 census estimate, making it the largest city in the ...

(now West Virginia). His father was Charles James Faulkner Sr., a

U.S. Representative 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 c ...

from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and West Virginia and U.S. Minister to France. He accompanied his father to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

1859; he attended school in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and Switzerland. He returned to the United States in 1861, and during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

entered the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

at Lexington in 1862. He served with the cadets in the

Battle of New Market The Battle of New Market was fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. A makeshift Confederate army of 4,100 men defeated the larger Army of the Shenandoah under Major General Franz S ...

. After the war, he attended the law department of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

, graduating in 1868. At the University of Virginia, he was member of St. Anthony Hall.Negus, W. H. (1900).
Delta Psi
. In Maxwell, W. J. (ed.). ''Greek Lettermen of Washington''. New York, New York: The Umbdenstock Publishing Co. pp. 231–234.

Career

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 1868 and commenced practice in Martinsburg. In 1887, Faulkner was elected as a Democratic to the U.S. Senate; he was reelected in 1893 and served from March 4, 1887, to March 3, 1899. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Territories (Fifty-third Congress). In 1898 he was appointed a member of the International Joint High Commission of the United States and Great Britain. He retired from public life and devoted his time to the practice of law in Martinsburg and

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, ...

, and to the management of his agricultural interests.

Personal

In 1922, he served as first president of the Opequon Golf Club. Faulkner died at the

Boydville Boydville is a late Georgian style mansion in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The house is near the center of the associated Boydville Historic District in . The house was built in 1812 by Elisha Boyd, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates a ...

family estate in 1929; interment was in the Old Norbourne Cemetery, Martinsburg.

References

Notes Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faulkner, Charles James 1847 births 1929 deaths 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers Military personnel from West Virginia Confederate States Army soldiers Democratic Party United States senators from West Virginia New Market cadets Politicians from Martinsburg, West Virginia People of West Virginia in the American Civil War University of Virginia School of Law alumni Virginia Military Institute alumni West Virginia Democrats Boyd family of Virginia and West Virginia Lawyers from Martinsburg, West Virginia