John S. Barbour Jr.

John Strode Barbour Jr.
Engraved portrait of John S. Barbour Jr.
United States Senator from Virginia
In office March 4, 1889 – May 14, 1892
Preceded by	Harrison H. Riddleberger
Succeeded by	Eppa Hunton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 8th district
In office March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1887
Preceded by	Eppa Hunton
Succeeded by	William H. F. Lee
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office 1847–1851
Personal details
Born	December 29, 1820 Culpeper, Virginia
Died	May 14, 1892 (aged 71) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic

John Strode Barbour Jr. (December 29, 1820 – May 14, 1892) was a Representative and a Senator from Virginia. He is best remembered for taking power in Virginia from the short-lived Readjuster Party in the late 1880s, forming the first political machine of "Conservative Democrats", whose power was to last 80 years until the demise of the Byrd Organization in the late 1960s.

Youth, education

Barbour was born at Catalpa, near Culpeper, Virginia, the son of John S. Barbour. He attended the common schools and graduated from the law department of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He was admitted to the bar in 1841 and commenced practice in Culpeper.

Career

Barbour served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1847 to 1851, and was president of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Co. from 1852 to 1881. He was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh, and the two succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1881 - March 3, 1887). There he served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia (Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses). He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1886.

In the late 1880s, Barbour is credited with taking on the Readjuster Party, a coalition of blacks, Republicans, and Conservative Democrats led by Harrison H. Riddleberger and William Mahone, forming the first political machine of "Conservative Democrats", whose power was to last 80 years until the demise of the Byrd Organization in the late 1960s.

Barbour was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1889, until his death in 1892 in Washington, D.C.. He was interred in the burial ground at "Poplar Hill," Prince George's County, Maryland.

Sources

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.
• Memorial Services for John S. Barbour Jr. 52nd Cong., 2nd sess., 1892-1893. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1893
• Quinn, James Thomas. ”Senator John S. Barbour, Jr. and the Restoration of Virginia Democracy, 1883-1892.” Master’s thesis, University of Virginia, 1966.

External links

• United States Congress. "John S. Barbour Jr. (id: b000129)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• John S. Barbour Jr. at Find a Grave
• John S. Barbour Jr. at Encyclopedia Virginia