Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (1809 - 1887)

Born 21 Apr 1809 in Loretto, Essex, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Died 18 Jul 1887 at age 78 in Lloyds, Essex, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (April 21, 1809 – July 18, 1887) was an American lawyer and politician from Virginia. He was a U.S. Representative (1837-1843, 1845-1847), Speaker of the House (1839-1841), and U.S. Senator (1847-1861). During the American Civil War he was Confederate States Secretary of State (1861-1862) and then a Confederate Senator (1862-1985).

Hunter was born in Loretto, Essex County, Virginia, the son of James Hunter and Maria (Garnett) Hunter.^[1] He was a maternal first cousin of both Robert S. Garnett and Richard B. Garnett. He entered the University of Virginia in his seventeenth year and was one of its first graduates. While he was a student, he became a member of the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society. He then studied law at the Winchester Law School, and in 1830 was admitted to the bar. From 1835 to 1837 he was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Timeline

April 21, 1809: Birth at Mount Pleasant, Loretto, Essex County, Virginia.

1828: Graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville; studied law.

1830: Admitted to the bar in 1830 and commenced practice at Lloyds; member,

1834-1837: State general assembly

March 4, 1837-March 3, 1843: Elected as a States-Rights Whig to the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-seventh Congresses.

December 16, 1839 – March 4, 1841: Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Twenty-sixth Congress.

1843-1844: unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Twenty-eighth Congress.

March 4, 1845-March 3, 1847: elected to the Twenty-ninth Congress.

1846: chairman, Committee on the District of Columbia (Twenty-ninth Congress); elected to the United States Senate in 1846;

1852 and 1858: reelected in 1852 and 1858 and served from March 4, 1847, to March 28, 1861, when he withdrew.

1861 expelled from the Senate on July 11, 1861, for support of the rebellion.

chairman, Committee on Public Buildings (Thirtieth through Thirty-second Congresses).

Date ? '  :' Committee on Finance (Thirty-first through Thirty-sixth Congresses); delegate from Virginia to the Confederate Provincial Congress at Richmond.

1861-1862: Confederate Secretary of State.

1862-1865: served in the Confederate Senate from Virginia in the First and Second Congresses and was President pro tempore on various occasions.

1865: was one of the peace commissioners that met with President Abraham Lincoln in Hampton Roads in February 1865.

briefly imprisoned at the end of the Civil War.

1874-1880: State treasurer of Virginia.

1885: collector for the port of Tappahannock, Virginua

July 18, 1887: died on his estate 'Fonthill,' near Lloyds, Va., on ; interment in 'Elmwood,' the family burial ground, near Loretto, Va. History House: [http://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15500 Robert Hunter

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia: [1]

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 22 September 2020), memorial page for Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (21 Apr 1809–18 Jul 1887), Find a Grave Memorial no. 8321194, citing Garnett Family Burial Ground at Elmwood, Loretto, Essex County, Virginia, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

• Ambler, Charles Henry, ed. Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter,

1826-1876. 1918. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.

• Anderson, D.R. "Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter." John P. Branch

Historical Papers of Randolph-Macon College 2 (June 1906): 4-77.

• Anderson, James LaVerne. "Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter." Virginia

Cavalcade 18 (Autumn 1968): 9-13.

• Anderson, James L., and Mary F. Crouch, eds. Papers of R.M.T. Hunter,

1817-1887. University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, 1967. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1989. Microfilm. 13 reels and guide.

• Hunter, Martha T, and L. Quinton Washington. A Memoir of Robert M.T. Hunter. Washington: The Neale Publishing Company, 1903. This 160-page source, written by his daughter, is freely available at The Hathi Trust (hathitrust.org); accessed 27 August 2021