Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart
Alexander Stuart | |
---|---|
3rd United States Secretary of the Interior | |
In office September 14, 1850 – March 7, 1853 | |
President | Millard Fillmore |
Preceded by | Thomas McKennan |
Succeeded by | Robert McClelland |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 17th district | |
In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843 | |
Preceded by | Robert Craig |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Augusta County | |
In office January 1, 1874 – December 5, 1877 | |
Preceded by | Charles S. Roler |
Succeeded by | John Echols |
In office December 5, 1836 – December 2, 1839 | |
Preceded by | Robert S. Brooke |
Succeeded by | Franklin McCue |
Member of the Virginia Senate from Augusta County | |
In office December 7, 1857 – December 2, 1861 | |
Preceded by | Clement R. Harris |
Succeeded by | Bolivar Christian |
Personal details | |
Born | Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart April 2, 1807 Staunton, Virginia, U.S. |
Died | February 13, 1891 Staunton, Virginia, U.S. | (aged 83)
Political party | Whig |
Spouse | Frances Baldwin |
Children | 8 |
Education | |
Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (April 2, 1807 – February 13, 1891) was a prominent Virginia lawyer and American
Early years
Stuart was born in
After education by private tutors, Stuart attended the
Career
Stuart was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1828 and soon became active in the National Republican Party. He supported the unsuccessful campaign of Henry Clay in the 1832 U.S. Presidential Election.
Delegate and Congressman
In 1840 Stuart won election as a Whig to the
Stuart also resumed his legal practice full time. Beginning in 1849, he was one of the attorneys defending the new
From 1850, Stuart served as
As the Whig Party disintegrated in 1852, Stuart declined to become its candidate in the U.S. Senate. Instead, he aligned himself with the nativist
Prelude to secession
Later that year, Augusta County voters again elected Stuart to the Virginia General Assembly, this time to the
By 1860, Stuart owned nine enslaved persons.[1][3] At a speech before the Central Agricultural Society of Virginia, Stuart fully accepted slavery as in the best interest of Southern agricultural prosperity and argued it benefited the Northern economy as well as that emancipation would lead to violence.
In the
American Civil War
After Virginia seceded, Stuart declined to hold any Confederate or Virginia office after his state senate term ended, and he did not support the Wheeling Convention, which ultimately led to the creation of West Virginia. However, he supported relief for Virginia's soldiers. Furthermore, two relatives served as Confederate generals: his brother-in-law John Brown Baldwin and his cousin, J. E. B. Stuart. A. H. H. Stuart also specifically declined appointment to a peace commission in March 1864.[1]
Post-war
About a month after Virginia's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, on May 8, 1865, Stuart chaired a mass meeting in Staunton, which adopted resolutions asking the U.S. Army's protection and declaring the populace not in rebellion. Stuart also took oaths of allegiance to the United States and to the loyal government of Virginia. Because he had never held Confederate office, Stuart was eligible for election and was again elected U.S. Representative in 1865. However, despite presenting credentials as a member-elect to the
As the University of Virginia commencement speaker in June 1866, Stuart lamented the end of Old Virginia. He also opposed
Stuart also served as rector of the University of Virginia from 1874 to 1882 and from 1886 to 1887, during which he came to accept public education but realized the funding problems (the institution received no funding from 1882 to 1884, and all its officers were forced out). He also served as president of the Virginia Historical Society from 1881 to his death, published a booklet concerning the Committee of Nine at its request, and continued his legal practice.[1]
Death and legacy
Stuart died at his home in Staunton in 1891 (six years following his wife's death). They are buried at Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton's Newtown Historic District.[4] His papers are held by the Virginia Historical Society and the University of Virginia, which has made some available online.[5] He was the last surviving member of Fillmore's cabinet.
His son in law, John M. P. Atkinson (husband of Frances Peyton Stuart) was the tenth president of Hampden–Sydney College from 1857 to 1883.[6]
His home at Staunton, the Stuart House, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.[7]
Family
- Father: Judge Archibald Stuart, Born March 19, 1757, Died July 11, 1832
- Mother: Eleanor Briscoe (1768–1858)
- Stuart had three brothers, Thomas Jefferson Stuart (born 1793), Archibald P. Stuart (born 1800), and Gerard Briscoe Stuart (born 1805).
- Stuart was the first cousin of J.E.B. Stuart, making him his first cousin, once removed.
- Stuart married Frances Cornelia Baldwin (1815–1888), and with her had 8 children: Briscoe Baldwin Stuart (1837–1859), Alexander H. H. Stuart Jr. (1846–1867), Archibald Gerard Stuart (1858–1888), Eleanor Augusta Stuart (1838–1878), Frances Peyton Stuart (born 1842), Mary Stuart (born 1844), Susan Baldwin Stuart (1848–1867), and Margaret Briscoe Stuart (1855–1932).
- Stuart's daughter Mary Stuart married Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire, Chief Surgeon, Stonewall Jackson's corp. Dr. McGuire was also President of the American Medical Association.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harris, S. H. "Alexander H. H. Stuart (1807–1891)". Dictionary of Virginia. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- ^ Elizabeth Brand Monroe, The Wheeling Bridge Case (Boston:Northeastern University Press 1992) pp.67
- ^ Ancestry.com's library edition contains no federal 1840 nor 1850 slaveholding schedules corresponding to Stuart, but does include his name on two separate pages of the1860 federal slave census for Augustra county, which differs from other counties' methodology. The 1860 Virginia slave census is not available online.
- user-generated source]
- ^ "Alexander H. H. Stuart". valley.vcdh.virginia.edu. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008.
- ^ Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 214–215. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 9 July 2010.