James M. Garnett
James Mercer Garnett | |
---|---|
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Essex County | |
In office November 29, 1824 – December 4, 1825 Serving with Lawrence Muse | |
Preceded by | Austin Brockenbrough |
Succeeded by | David Pitts |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 11th district | |
In office 1805–1809 | |
Preceded by | Anthony New |
Succeeded by | John Roane |
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Essex County | |
In office December 2, 1799 – December 6, 1801 Serving with John Daingerfield | |
Preceded by | James Webb |
Succeeded by | William Brockenbrough |
Personal details | |
Born | June 8, 1770 |
Died | April 23, 1843 | (aged 72)
Occupation | Slave Owner, politician, educator, author |
James Mercer Garnett (June 8, 1770 – April 23, 1843) was a nineteenth-century politician and slave owner from Virginia, who served two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1805 to 1809, and separate terms in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Essex County, Virginia.[1][2]
Early and family life
Born at "
In 1793, he married his cousin (James Mercer's daughter) Mary Eleanor Dick Mercer (1774-1837) and they had nine children, including James M. Garnett Jr. (1794-1824) and five daughters who reached adulthood: Ann Garnett (1797-1835), Mary Garnett Waring (1802-1822), Grace Fenton Garnett (1805-1826), Mary Mercer Garnett McGuire (1808-1841) and Eliza Garnett (1815-1847). His grandson
Career
Garnet inherited plantations in Essex County (including Elmwood) and continued the family tradition of farming using enslaved labor, although as discussed below, he would become a leading advocate of scientific agriculture and education. He owned 115 enslaved people in Essex County in 1820,[5] 109 enslaved people there in 1830,[6] and 63 enslaved people in the last census in his lifetime,[7]
Essex County voters first elected Garnett as one of their representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1799 and re-elected him in 1800.[8] However, he refused to campaign for votes, which he considered degrading.[9]
In 1804, voters in Virginia's 11th congressional district elected him as a
Despite his dislike for political campaigning, Garnett became a leading advocate for applying scientific techniques to farming, and strove to educate fellow farmers. In 1817 he helped found the Fredericksburg Agricultural Society, and served as its president for two decades.[10] In 1820 Garnett led his fellow Fredericksburg area farmers in a protest against recent protective tariffs, then attended several national anti-tariff conventions between 1821 and 1831. Some criticized Garnett's advocacy, and thought he should emulate the wealth orientation of Robert Payne Waring (who never served in the legislature).[11] Nonetheless, Essex County grew to have considerable power (Richmond politics being supposedly governed by the "Essex Junto" led by Judge Spencer Roane for several decades). In 1837 Garnett's lobbying in Richmond for creation of a state agricultural board led to creation of the Virginia Board of Agriculture, with himself as the first president. Garnett also worked with Edmund Ruffin, another vociferous agricultural advocate, and in 1842 established the Agricultural Society of Essex. Garnett often voiced admiration for Jeffersonian agricultural ideals, especially the "yeoman farmer" who owned fewer than 300 acres and only a few slaves. He also became known for his tirades against farmers becoming lawyers and doctors, for he claimed that weakened the pride farmers should take in their profession.[12]
In 1816 Garnett hosted Henry Knight of Massachusetts, who had been educated at Andover, Harvard and Brown and planned to spend a year in Virginia, then tour the South to complete his education. He had visited Richmond (where people recommended he visit Garnett's Essex County plantation), and would later travel westward to Kentucky and New Orleans.[13]
Garnett also established a school for boys on his Elmwood plantation, as well as in 1824 published Lectures on Female Education: Comprising the First and Second Series of a Course Delivered to Mrs. Garnett's Pupils, at Elm-wood, Essex County, Virginia.[14]
Unlike Ruffin, who vehemently defended slavery, Garnett became a member of the
Essex County voters thwarted Garnett's attempted return to politics in 1815, but returned Garnett as one of their representatives in the House of Delegates in 1824.
Death and legacy
Garnett died at his Elmwood estate on April 23, 1843, and was interred in the family cemetery on the estate. He had survived his wife, only son the reach adulthood, and most of his daughters. After his death, his widowed former son-in-law Rev. John Peyton McGuire (1800-1869, who had remarried to Judith Brockenbrough) established a school in Essex County and promoted his innovation of report cards.
References
- Appleton's Cyclopediavol. p.
- ^
- United States Congress. "James M. Garnett (id: G000075)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ^ Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. 2, pp. 108-109
- ^ Pippenger pp. 71-72
- ^ 1820 U.S. Federal Census for Essex County, Virginia p. 1 of 11
- ^ 1830 U.S. Federal Census for Essex County, Virginia p. 31 of 78
- ^ 1840 U.S. Federal Census for Essex County, Virginia p. 27 of 58
- ^ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly, 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp 215, 219
- ^ James Slaughter, Settlers, Southerners, Americans: The History of Essex County, Virginia (Essex County Board of Supervisors 1985) p. 145
- ^ Slaughter pp. 119-121
- ^ Slaughter p. 121
- ^ Slaughter p. 121
- ^ Slaughter at pp. 93-94, citing Henry Knight and Arthur Singleton (editor) Letters from the South and West (Boston 1824) pp. 57-82
- ^ Slaughter pp. 127-128
- ^ Slaughter p. 145
- ^ Slaughter p. 153