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Higher Office(s) Served: Representative

Military Service: Army

War(s) Served:  Civil War

ALLEN D. CANDLER was born in Auraria, Georgia, on November 4, 1834. He graduated from Mercer University in 1859, studied law, and for a short time taught school. During the Civil War, he enlisted as a private in the Confederate army, serving in Company H of the 34th Regiment of the Georgia Infantry and rising to the rank of colonel by the end of the war. Candler entered politics in 1873 as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, a position he held until 1877. He also served in the Georgia Senate in 1878 and 1879, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1883 to 1891, and served as Georgia's secretary of state from 1894 to 1898. He won the 1898 Democratic gubernatorial nomination and was elected Georgia's 41st governor. He was reelected to a second term in 1900. During his tenure, he restricted spending due to a cut in tax revenues. Governor Candler petitioned for approval to initiate the collection of the state historical records, and he endorsed establishing a state Democratic white primary. After leaving office on October 25, 1902, Candler served as the state historian from 1903 until his death. Governor Allen D. Candler, who co-authored a three-volume encyclopedia of Georgia in 1906, died from Bright's disease on October 26, 1910. He is buried in the Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville, Georgia.

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

Governors' Portraits