Emerson Etheridge

Henry Emerson Etheridge
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 9th district
In office
March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1857
Preceded byIsham G. Harris
Succeeded byJohn D.C. Atkins
In office
March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1861
Preceded byJohn D.C. Atkins
Succeeded byBarbour Lewis
Clerk of the United States House of Representatives
In office
July 1861 – December 1863
Preceded byJohn W. Forney
Succeeded byEdward McPherson
Member of the Tennessee Senate
In office
1869–1871
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
In office
1845–1847
Personal details
Born(1819-09-28)September 28, 1819
Currituck County, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedOctober 21, 1902(1902-10-21) (aged 83)
Dresden, Tennessee, U.S.
Resting placeMount Vernon Cemetery[1]
Sharon, Tennessee, U.S.
Political partyWhig
Know Nothing
Opposition
SpouseFannie N. Bell Etheridge
ChildrenEmma Etheridge Moran, Bell W. Etheridge
ProfessionAttorney

Henry Emerson Etheridge (September 28, 1819 – October 21, 1902) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Tennessee's 9th congressional district from 1853 to 1857, and again from 1859 to 1861. He also served one term in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1845–1847) and one term in the Tennessee Senate (1869–1871). After Tennessee seceded in 1861, he was elected Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, serving until 1863.

One of the most powerful and eloquent speakers of his day,[2][3][4] Etheridge was one of the few Southern congressmen to oppose the expansion of slavery and denounce Southern secession on the eve of the Civil War. Though a Southern Unionist, he criticized Abraham Lincoln over the Emancipation Proclamation. In the years following the war, Etheridge was a bitter critic of Governor William G. Brownlow, and ran against Brownlow for governor in a violent campaign in 1867.[2]

After leaving the state senate in 1871, Etheridge remained active in state Republican Party politics. He was offered (but rejected) the party's nomination for governor in 1878, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1884. He worked as the Surveyor of Customs at Memphis in the early 1890s.

  1. ^ Lonnie E. Maness, "Henry Emerson Etheridge," Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved: 19 April 2014.
  2. ^ a b Robert B. Jones, "Henry Emerson Etheridge," NCpedia. Originally published in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 1986.
  3. ^ The Bolivar Bulletin, 1 June 1867, p. 1.
  4. ^ Brownsville Daily Herald, 18 November 1902, p. 1.