Meredith Poindexter Gentry

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Meredith Poindexter Gentry
Joseph H. Peyton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 7th district
In office
March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1853
Preceded byDavid W. Dickinson
Succeeded byRobert M. Bugg
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
In office
1835–1839
Personal details
BornSeptember 15, 1809
planter, lawyer, politician, orator

Meredith Poindexter Gentry (September 15, 1809 – November 2, 1866) was an American politician who represented

seventh districts in the United States House of Representatives
.

Biography

Gentry was born in Rockingham County, North Carolina, the son of Watson and Theodosia Poindexter Gentry. He moved with his parents to Williamson County, Tennessee, in 1813. He completed preparatory studies, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Franklin, Tennessee. He owned slaves, as did 40 out of 106 congressmen at the time he was a representative.[1] He first married Emily Saunders, with whom he had two daughters, Mary and Emily. With his second wife, Caledonia Brown, he had two sons, Albert and Charles.[2]

Career

Gentry was a member of the

Twenty-seventh Congresses for the eighth district of Tennessee. He served from March 4, 1839, to March 3, 1843.[3] Because of the death of his wife, he refused to be a candidate for renomination in 1842.[4]

Again, Gentry was elected to the

Thirtieth Congress, he was the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Indian Affairs. He served from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1853,[5]
and was not a candidate for renomination in 1852.

In 1855 Gentry was an unsuccessful candidate for

plantation
in Tennessee, where he remained until 1861.

Gentry served in the

Second Confederate Congresses, other sources list him as merely as a member of the First Confederate Congress during its first two sessions. The Journal of the Confederate Congress supports this view, listing him as having taken his seat on March 17, 1862, with his last appearance being near the day the second session ended, October 13, 1862. According to the Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly, he "may not have attended the 3rd and 4th sessions of the congress; was not a member of the 2nd Confederate Congress. He was captured in Middle Tennessee in 1864 and requested that President Abraham Lincoln send him south because of ill health; the request was granted."[6]

Death

Gentry died in Nashville, Tennessee on November 2, 1866 (age 57 years, 48 days), at Clover Bottom, the home of his sister-in-law Mary Ann Hoggatt. He is interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, 2022-01-19, retrieved 2022-07-08
  2. ^ "Meredith Poindexter Gentry". The Gentry family in America, 1676 to 1909. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Meredith Poindexter Gentry". Govtrack US Congress. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  4. ^ "Meredith Poindexter Gentry". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Meredith Poindexter Gentry". Govtrack US Congress. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  6. ^ McBride & Robinson, p. 279.
  7. ^ "Meredith Poindexter Gentry". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 7 March 2013.

External links


Party political offices
Preceded by Whig nominee for Governor of Tennessee
1855 		Succeeded by
None
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Abram P. Maury
 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 8th congressional district
1839-1843 		Succeeded by
Joseph H. Peyton
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 7th congressional district
1845-1853 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meredith_Poindexter_Gentry&oldid=1209899278"