Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/163

 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

129

gates, 1899-1903; commonwealth's attorney oi Amelia county, Virginia ; elected as a Democrat to the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth congresses (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1907) ; judge of the judicial circuit court of Vir- ginia ; a resident of Amelia county, Virginia.

Stowell, William H. H., born at Windsor, Vermont, July 26, 1840; attended the high schools in Boston, Massachusetts ; mer- chant; moved to Virginia in 1865; collector of internal revenue for the fourth district in 1869; elected as a Republican to the forty- second, forty-third, and forty-fourth con- gresses (March 4, 1871-March 3, 1877.

Swanson, Claude A., (q. v.).

Terry, William, ( q. v.).

Thomas, Christopher Yancy, born in t'itt- sylvania county, Virginia, March 24, 1618; attended the common schools and was graduated from a private academy in 1838 ; studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1844, and began practice in Martinsville, Virginia ; i/iember of the state senate 1860-1864; mem- ber of commission to settle the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina ; prosecuting attorney for Henry county ; member of the state constitutional conven- tion ill 1868; elected in 1869 to the state house of representatives; elected as a Re- publican to the forty-third congress (March 4, 1873-March 3. 1875); unsuccessful can- didate for re-election to the forty-fourth congress ; resumed the practice of law ; died <it Martinsville, Virginia, February 11, 1879.

Thorp, Robert Taylor, born in Granville county, North Carolina, March 12, 1850; at- tended Horner Academy, Oxford, North (Carolina ; was graduated from the law de-

VIR-9

partment of the University of Virginia in .•870, was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Boydton, ^Mecklenburg county, ill 1871 ; commonwealth attorney for that county, 1 877- 1 895 ; successfully contested as a Republican the election of William R. Mc- Kenney to the fifty-fourth congress and served from May 2, 1896, to March 3, 1897; successfully contested the election of Syd- ney P. Epes to the fifty-fifth congress and served from March 23, 1898, to March 4, 1899; resumed the practice of law at Nor- folk, Virginia.

Tucker, John Randolph, was born in Win- chester, Virginia, December 24, 1823, son of Henry St. George Tucker, president of the supreme court of appeals. He received his e-iirly education at a private school near his home, the Richmond Academy and the Uni- versity of Virginia, from which he was graduated in 1844. He was admitted to the bar in 1845 and practiced at Winchester. He was a lawyer of eminent ability, entered politics, was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1852 and 1856, and was elected attorney-general of Virginia in May, 1S57, to fill a vacancy, and was reelected in 1859 and 1863. After the war he was made professor of law and equity in Washington and Lee University in 1870, and continued in this ofifice till he was elected in 1874 to congress, where he remained until 1887. In Congress he was regarded as one of the ablest members from the South. He was chairman at different times of the ways and means committee and of the judiciary com- mittee. His speeches on the tariff in oppo- sition to the protective policy, on the recon- struction measures, the electoral commis- sion bill, the use of the army at the polls,