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Senate Years of Service: 1861-1865; 1865-1872 Party: Unionist; Democrat
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Library of Congress |
DAVIS, Garrett, (brother of Amos Davis),
a Representative and a Senator from Kentucky; born in Mount Sterling, Ky.,
September 10, 1801; completed preparatory studies; employed in the office of the county clerk of
Montgomery County and afterward of Bourbon County; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1823 and
commenced practice in Paris, Ky.; member, State house of representatives 1833-1835; elected as a
Whig to the Twenty-sixth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1839-March 3, 1847);
chairman, Committee on Territories (Twenty-seventh Congress); declined to be a candidate for
reelection in 1846; resumed the practice of law and also engaged in agricultural pursuits; declined the
nomination for lieutenant governor in 1848; declined the American Party nomination for governor in
1855 and for the presidency in 1856; was opposed to secession and supported the Constitutional
Union ticket in 1860; elected as a Unionist in 1861 to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy
caused by the expulsion of John C. Breckinridge; reelected as a Democrat in 1867 and served from
December 10, 1861, until his death in Paris, Bourbon County, Ky., September 22, 1872; chairman,
Committee on Private Land Claims (Forty-second Congress); interment in Paris Cemetery.
BibliographyAmerican National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses for
Garrett Davis. 42nd Cong., 3rd sess., 1872-1873. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office, 1873.
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