James Zachariah George Biography - Mississippi Genealogy Trails

James Zachariah George

Courts, Judges, and Lawyers of Mississippi, 1798-1935, By Dunbar Rowland, B.S., LL.B., LL.D., Press of Hederman Press, Jackson, Mississippi, 1935, pgs 99-103

James Zachariah George was born in Monroe county, Georgia, October 20, 1826, the only child of Joseph Warren George and Mary (Chambless) George. Joseph Warren George died a year later, and his widow married again, and in 1834 moved with her child and second husband to a comparatively new community in Noxubee county. Later they moved to Carroll county. Life in the new country was hard for those who labored, but the healthy, strongly built boy worked diligently on the farm, and was encouraged by his mother to improve such advantages of education as were offered by the community, which were of an indifferent nature. Although he was what is popularly termed “self-made”, his social status and opportunities were not as humble and meager as have been contended by his contemporaries. The taunt that he did not come of the aristocratic classes was a political jibe of his opponents. At 18 years of age young George left the farm and went to Carrolton, where he read law with Judge William Cothran. He was a good student and soon mastered the rudiments of law. At 20, by special dispensation of the legislature, he was admitted to practice, with fair prospects for the future. About this time, however, he enlisted and served as a private soldier in the First Mississippi Rifles, under Col. Jefferson Davis, and fought gallantly at Monterey, circumstances in his life of which he was always proud. In later years he regularly drew his pension as a Mexican soldier, and gave it to the support of the widow of a comrade. May 27, 1847, he married Elizabeth Brooks Young, who lived to share her husband’s fortunes until two weeks before his death. They reared a large family, the members of which are still prominent in the State. In 1854 Mr. George was chosen reporter of the high court of errors and appeals, and was reelected in 1860, in which office he prepared ten volumes of the reports. Later he published a digest of all the decisions up to 1870, which was pronounced a model of its kind. Hw was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1861 from Carroll county that passed the Ordinance of Secession. Later he organized and was chosen captain of a volunteer company which entered the 20^th regiment, and after serving in Kentucky, was surrendered at Fort Donelson. On being exchanged in the following September he entered upon work of organizing State troops, and accepted the rank of brigadier-general. Later he became lieutenant-colonel, commanding the 19^th battalion, and when commissioned colonel in the Confederate States service. At the battle of Collierville, Tenn., he was wounded and captured, and remained a prisoner of war at Johnson’s Island, Lake Erie, until after the close of hostilities. Returning home, he resumed the practice of law Carrolton; moved to Jackson in 1873, and after five years returned to “Cotesworth”, his home near Carrolton. In 1875, he one of the leading members of the Democratic State committee that faced the task of overthrowing the Ames administration and establishing white supremacy in the State. General George was put in charge of the campaign as State chairman, to which he gave his whole time and thought. When the Clinton riot and its attendant reprisals seemed to destroy hope of success, he met Governor Ames in conference and handled the situation with frankness, calmness and great strength of character. Quiet was restored and the campaign proceeded, with as much freedom from violence as could have been expected, to the election of a white majority in the legislature. He was even that early suggested for United States senator, but the honor went to L. Q. C. Lamar. Judge George was appointed one of the justices of the supreme court in 1878, and later chosen chief justice. He was elected to the United States senate in 1881, and by reelection continued in that body until his death. In general legislation in congress he may be called the father of the department of agriculture. He secured an increase in the pensions of Mexican veterans and made his first great speech in favor of Chinese exclusion. He made a strong appeal to nation feeling in advocating a bill for the admission of ex-Confederates to the United States service. Regardless of the opposition of his own party, he supported the civil service law, and with Senator Hoar led the fight for the Blair educational bill, 1883-84. He was now gaining recognition as a great lawyer, which increased after he was appointed to the judiciary committee in 1884. In 1887 he made a great speech in defense of the political revolution of 1875 in Mississippi; and another in favor of the ratification of the fisheries treaty with England. In 1890, he was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Mississippi, and with other learned associates, formulated the provisions of the Constitution of 1890, including the educational test of suffrage, to which the understanding test was added. In the following congress he made a speech of three days in defense of the suffrage test, which disarmed criticism, and in the same session made an exhaustive attack on the proposed Federal election law. In 1892 he campaigned the State for reelection. In opposition to Ethelbert Barksdale, who espoused the sub-treasury plan, and was supported by the Farmer’s Alliance. His sound common sense and irresistible logic in argument and debate, as shown in this campaign, were acknowledged by those who were critical of his mannerisms. A revelation of his true character is given in the following extract from one of his speeches: “Public life has no charm from me beyond the consciousness of having at all times, to the best of my humble ability, worked for the welfare and advancement of the people of Mississippi, and of the whole country. I shall not, therefore, compromise my principles nor advocate what I know will injure the people for the poor privilege of occupying a conspicuous place among those who have aided in destroying what I have always endeavored to preserve and advance – the welfare of my countrymen.” His achievements had been so signal, and his progress so steady, that many who had ridiculed his lack of social breeding and culture; his excessive use of tobacco that often stained his lips and shirt bosom were later to accord him a place in the highest social circles as well as among the greatest legal lights of the State. Many of the snobberies of the old aristocratic class that had held over since pioneer days, when the high courts of Mississippi were adorned with transferred Princeton graduates, were still reserved for self-made men, and opponents seized upon their early social environment to weaken them in the estimation of the public. Entirely reverse tactics are observed today, and the candidate for public office, himself, invariably claims to have been a “poor boy”.

Senator George was at his best in the study of the great question arising out of the interpretation of organic law, and was most effective before deliberative bodies. He relied entirely upon the persuasive power of the logical presentation of truth. His appeals were made to pure reason, and plain but deep sense was the leading characteristic of his utterances.

Children of J. Z. George and Elizabeth Brooks Young – Frances Leonore, m. 1^st William Robert Barksdale; m. 2^nd, Thomas Jefferson George; Emma, m. J. B. H. Hemmingway; Kate, m. F. M. Aldridge; Mary, m. William Hayne Leavell; Alfred Hudson m. Fanny Tarver; William Cothran, unmarried; Lizzie, m. T. R. Henderson; Pinckney Smith m. Kate Duncan; Joseph Warren m. Kate Hammond. There were two who died in infancy.

Senator George rose to high political position and prominence after “The War Between the States”.

Through sixteen years he was heard on every important question before congress, and rarely failed to contribute light and information. Senator Gray said of him that “no one ever encountered him in legal debate without being aware that all the legal acumen and ability he himself possessed would be required for the contest.” A Republican colleague said: “Right with him was right and the consequences of his section did not concern him when he knew that he was in the right.” Varied comment of his biographers run that he was careless of his personal appearance; rugged and courageous in character; brusque in demeanor and liked to be known as the “Great Commoner of Mississippi”.

Senator George died in Mississippi City, August 14, 1897. His portrait is in the Mississippi hall of Fame and a memorial statue of him was placed, by the Mississippi legislature, in Statuary Hall at Washington. His son, Joseph Warren George, is one of the most distinguished lawyers of the State and his daughter, Mrs. Lizzie George Henderson, is one of the prominent members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.