Wilson Lumpkin

Wilson Lumpkin
35th Governor of Georgia
In office January 1831–1835
Preceded by	George R. Gilmer
Succeeded by	William Schley
Personal details
Born	(1783-01-14)January 14, 1783 near Dan River, Virginia
Died	December 28, 1870(1870-12-28) (aged 87) Athens,Ga

Wilson Lumpkin (January 14, 1783 – December 28, 1870) was a governor of Georgia, and a United States Representative and Senator.

Born near Dan River, Virginia, he moved in 1784 to Oglethorpe County, Georgia with his parents, who settled near Point Peter and subsequently at Lexington, Georgia. He attended the common schools, and taught school and farmed; he studied law, and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Athens, Georgia.

Lumpkin was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1804 to 1812, and was elected as a Representative to the Fourteenth United States Congress, serving from March 4, 1815 to March 3, 1817. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection, and was the State Indian Commissioner. He was elected to the Twentieth, Twenty-first, and Twenty-second Congresses and served from March 4, 1827, until his resignation in 1831 before the convening of the Twenty-second Congress to run for the governorship; he was also commissioner on the Georgia–Florida boundary line commission, and was Governor of Georgia from 1831 to 1835. In 1835, he was appointed commissioner under the Cherokee treaty in 1835. He was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John P. King and served from November 22, 1837, to March 3, 1841; while in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-sixth Congress). Lumpkin was a member of the State board of public works, and died in Athens in 1870; interment was in Oconee Hill Cemetery.

Lumpkin's grandson, Middleton P. Barrow, also served in the U.S. Senate. Lumpkin's brother Joseph Henry Lumpkin was the first chief justice of the Georgia supreme court. Their nephew John Henry Lumpkin was a U.S. Representative from Georgia. The townspeople of Terminus (current-day Atlanta) voted to rename their city "Lumpkin" after Wilson Lumpkin. He instead asked for his daughter Martha Lumpkin Compton to be the honoree of Atlanta's first true name, "Marthasville"; the story that "Atlanta" derives from a nickname "Atalanta" for her is not supported by the historical evidence. However, Lumpkin County, Georgia is named for him.

References

• Wilson Lumpkin at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

External links

• Find-A-Grave profile for Wilson Lumpkin

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by George Troup	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large congressional district March 4, 1815 – March 4, 1817	Succeeded by Thomas Willis Cobb
Preceded by Representatives elected at large	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 4th congressional district March 4, 1827 – March 4, 1829	Succeeded by Representatives elected at large
Preceded by Representatives elected by district	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's at-large congressional district March 4, 1829 – 1831	Succeeded by Augustin Smith Clayton
Political offices
Preceded by George R. Gilmer	Governor of Georgia 1831–1835	Succeeded by William Schley
United States Senate
Preceded by John Pendleton King	United States Senator (Class 2) from Georgia November 22, 1837 – March 4, 1841 Served alongside: Alfred Cuthbert	Succeeded by John Macpherson Berrien
Honorary titles
Preceded by Henry Dodge	Oldest living U.S. Senator June 19, 1867 – December 28, 1870	Succeeded by John Ruggles