Edward H. East
Edward H. East | |
---|---|
William G. Brownlow | |
Military Tennessee Secretary of State | |
In office March 12, 1862 – April 5, 1865 | |
Appointed by | Andrew Johnson |
Preceded by | J. E. R. Ray |
Succeeded by | A. J. Fletcher |
Personal details | |
Born | Davidson County, Tennessee | October 1, 1830
Died | November 12, 1904 Davidson County, Tennessee[1] | (aged 74)
Resting place | Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville) |
Political party | Whig Opposition Republican Prohibition |
Spouse | Ida Horton[2] |
Profession | Attorney |
Signature | |
Edward Hazzard East (October 1, 1830 – November 12, 1904) was an American attorney, judge, and politician. He served as
Life and career
East was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, one of ten children of Edward Hyde East and Celia Buchanan East. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin East, had migrated from England in the 18th century. His father served as a justice of the peace for Davidson County, and was a supporter of Whig presidential candidate Hugh Lawson White in 1836.[2]
East enrolled in Washington Institute in Nashville in the late 1840s, and graduated with a degree in literature in 1850. He then studied law at the Cumberland University Law School (now the Cumberland School of Law), graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1854. Afterward, he practiced law in Nashville.[2]
In 1859, East, a lifelong Whig, was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives as a member of the Opposition Party (which the state's Whigs had formed after the collapse of the national Whig Party). In the months leading up to the Civil War, East steadfastly opposed secession. When the state began to align itself with the Confederacy, he resigned his seat.[2] While he supported the Union, he refused to take up arms against the South, and retired from public life.[2]
In March 1862, the Union Army occupied Nashville, and former governor Andrew Johnson was appointed military governor of the state. Shortly afterward, Johnson set up a cabinet: East was appointed Secretary of State,
When Johnson became president following Lincoln's assassination, he asked East to serve in his cabinet, but East declined.[2] East served as chancellor for Davidson County from 1869 to 1870, and chancellor for the state's Seventh Division (created by the 1870 state constitution) from 1870 to 1872.[5] Afterward, he worked as counsel for the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway.[2]
In 1874, East was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, and served as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. As such, he was instrumental in convincing the state to acknowledge and resolve its debt issues.[2] The state's Greenback Party nominated East as their candidate for governor in 1878, but he declined the nomination.[2] In 1892, East ran for governor on the Prohibition Party ticket,[6] but placed a distant fourth behind Democrat Peter Turney, Republican George W. Winstead, and Farm-Labor incumbent John P. Buchanan.[7]
Death
East died in Davidson County on November 12, 1904. He is interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville.
Family life and public service
East was the second husband of Ida Horton. Edward and Ida had two daughters, Edine and Bessie.[2] Ida was active in the Temperance movement.[8]
East served on the inaugural Board of Trust of
See also
References
- ^ Finding Aid for the Andrew Johnson Letter MS.0930, University of Tennessee Special Collections Online. Retrieved: 17 October 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l William Speer, Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1903; originally published in 1883), pp. 196-200.
- ^ a b James Patton, Unionism and Reconstruction in Tennessee (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1934), pp. 34, 84, 89.
- ^ Eric McKitrick, Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction (University of Chicago Press, 1960), p. 136n.
- ^ Charles Miller, The Official and Political Manual of the State of Tennessee (Nashville: Marshall and Bruce Stationers, 1890), p. 186.
- ^ Phillip Langsdon, Tennessee: A Political History (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), p. 216.
- ^ Our Campaigns - TN Governor 1892. Retrieved: 17 October 2012.
- ^ "MRS. Edward H. East". Woman of the Century. Charles Wells Moulton. 1893.