Misplaced Pages

John R. Tyson

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
American judge For other people with the same name, see John Tyson.

John R. Tyson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Alabama's 2nd district
In office
March 4, 1921 – March 27, 1923
Preceded byS. Hubert Dent, Jr.
Succeeded byJ. Lister Hill
18th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama
In office
1906–1909
Preceded bySamuel D. Weakley Jr.
Succeeded byJames R. Dowdell
Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court
In office
1898–1906
Alabama Circuit Court Judge
In office
1892–1898
Member of the Alabama House of Representatives
In office
1880
Personal details
BornJohn Russell Tyson
(1856-11-28)November 28, 1856
Lowndes County, Alabama, US
DiedMarch 27, 1923(1923-03-27) (aged 66)
Rochester, Minnesota, US
Resting placeOakwood Cemetery (Montgomery, Alabama)
Political partyDemocratic
ProfessionLawyer, judge, politician
Signature

John Russell Tyson (November 28, 1856 – March 27, 1923) was an American lawyer, politician and judge. He served in the Alabama legislature before becoming a circuit judge, and later serving on the Alabama Supreme Court as associate justice and chief justice, before resigning to resume his legal practice. Elected as U.S. Representative for Alabama's 2nd congressional district in 1920, he won re-election in 1922, but died less than a month after being sworn in to the 67th U.S. Congress.

Early and family life

Through an entirely paternal line, Tyson was a direct descendant of famed English scientist Edward Tyson. John R. Tyson graduated from Howard College, Marion, Alabama, in 1877 and from Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, in 1879. He married Mary Dossie Jordan, daughter of Dr. James R. Jordan who died in Lexington, Virginia in 1862. Their children included Patsy J. Tyson (1881-1972), Ellen Tyson Noble (1887-1977) and James Jordan Tyson (1893-1966).

Career

Admitted to the Alabama bar in 1879, Tyson began his legal career in Hayneville, Lowndes County, Alabama.

He represented Lowndes County in the Alabama State house of representatives in 1880, and four years later moved to the state capital, Montgomery, Alabama, and established his legal practice there. Montgomery voters elected and re-elected Tyson as a member of the city council beginning in May 1889 and he became its president in May 1891. He resigned that position in October 1892, after accepting an appointment to the circuit court.

Judicial career

Tyson served as a circuit court judge from 1892 to 1898. He then served as associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court from 1898 to 1906, then became its chief justice from November 1906 to February 28, 1909, when he resigned and resumed the practice of law in Montgomery, Alabama.

U.S. Congressman

Tyson was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth Congresses, and served from March 4, 1921, until his death in Rochester, Minnesota, on March 27, 1923.

Death and legacy

He died in Rochester, Minnesota, in hospital, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. His grandson, John M. Tyson Sr. continued the family's legal and political traditions, serving as a municipal judge and in both houses of the Alabama legislature representing Mobile, although he lost his race to represent Alabama's 1st congressional district in 1964. His great-grandson John M. Tyson Sr. served as the Mobile County District Attorney, but lost his bids for statewide elective office.

See also

References

  1. "JOHN RUSSELL TYSON Nineteenth Chief Justice - 1906-1909" (PDF).
  2. Onofrio, Jan (January 1, 1998). Alabama Biographical Dictionary. Somerset Publishers, Inc. ISBN 9780403098118.
  3. Leonard, John William; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1906). Who's who in America. A.N. Marquis.
  4. Leonard, John William; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1906). Who's who in America. A.N. Marquis.
  5. History, Alabama Department of Archives and (1908). Alabama Official and Statistical Register. Brown Printing Company.
  6. Harrison, James L., ed. (1950). Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949: The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788, and the Congress of the United States from the First to the Eightieth Congress, March 4, 1789 to January 3, 1949. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1941.
  7. "Former state senator, civic leader John Tyson dies". November 13, 2016.
  8. "Our Campaigns - Candidate - John M. Tyson, Jr".
  9. "John Tyson, Jr., Former Mobile District Attorney, May 20th, 2014 | the Rotary Club of Tuscaloosa".
Legal offices
Preceded bySamuel D. Weakley Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of Alabama
1906–1909 		Succeeded byJames R. Dowdell
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded byS. Hubert Dent Jr. Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Alabama's 2nd congressional district
March 4, 1921 – March 27, 1923 		Succeeded byJ. Lister Hill
Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Categories: