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Higher Office(s) Served: Representative, Senator

WILSON LUMPKIN, Georgia's 19th Governor, was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, on January 14, 1783. In 1784 his family moved to Georgia, settling in Oglethorpe County. Lumpkin studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1804, and established a legal career in Athens. He entered politics in 1804 as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, a position he was reelected to in 1805, 1812, 1813, and 1820. He was magistrate of the Inferior Court in 1805, where he served for several years; was the state Indian commissioner in 1818, 1819, and 1821; and served on the Georgia Board of Public Works in 1825. He served in the U.S.House of Representatives from 1815 to 1817, and again from 1827 to 1831. In 1831, he won election to the governor's office, and in 1833 was reelected to a second term. During his tenure, his major accomplishment was the relocation of the Cherokee Indians to the designated Indian Territory in the West. He also advocated for educational programs and teacher training, supported amending the state's tax laws, endorsed the construction of a railroad connecting Georgia's coast with the Ohio Valley, and lobbied for better provisions in the state penitentiary. After leaving the governor's office on November 4, 1835, Lumpkin was appointed in 1836 as a commissioner to help execute the provisions of the Cherokee Treaty of 1835. Resigning from his appointment in 1837, he then was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1837 to 1841. He also served as a trustee of the University of Georgia.  Governor Wilson Lumpkin died on December 28, 1870, and he is buried at the Oconee Cemetery in Athens.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

This Day in Georgia History