Breckinridge family

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The Breckinridge family is a family of politicians from the United States. Below is a list of members.

• Alexander Breckinridge, (1670-1743), First Breckinridge in New World, emigrated to Staunton, Virginia c. 1728. Married to Jane Preston, sister of Robert Preston, first Speaker of Kentucky State House of Representatives in 1792.
  • Robert Preston Breckinridge (1720-1772), married his first cousin Letitia Preston, daughter of Robert Preston. Officer in the Revolutionary Army. Son of Alexander Breckinridge.
    • Robert Breckinridge (1754-1833), Kentucky State Representative 1792-1795. Brother of John Breckinridge and James Breckinridge, Son of Robert Preston Breckinridge.[1]
    • James Breckinridge (1763-1833), Virginia House Delegate 1789-1802 1806-1808 1819-1821 1823-1824, U.S. Representative from Virginia 1809-1817. Brother of Robert Breckinridge and John Breckinridge, Son of Robert Preston Breckinridge.[2]
    • John Breckinridge (1760-1806), Member of House of Burgesses, U.S. District Attorney of Kentucky 1793-1794, Attorney General of Kentucky 1793-1797, Kentucky State Representative 1788-1790 1799-1801, delegate to the Kentucky Constitutional Convention 1799, U.S. Senator from Kentucky 1801-1805, Attorney General of the United States 1805-1806. Married Mary Hopkins Cabell in 1785. Brother of Robert Breckinridge and James Breckinridge, Son of Robert Preston Breckinridge.[3]
      • Joseph Cabell Breckinridge (1788-1823), Kentucky State Representative 1817-1818, Kentucky Secretary of State 1820-1823. Son of John Breckinridge.[4]
        • John C. Breckinridge (1821-1875), Kentucky State Representative 1849-1851, U.S. Representative from Kentucky 1851-1855, delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1856, Vice President of the United States 1857-1861, candidate for President of the United States 1860, U.S. Senator from Kentucky 1861, Confederate States Secretary of War 1865. Son of Joseph Cabell Breckinridge.[5]
          • Clifton R. Breckinridge (1846-1932), U.S. Representative from Arkansas 1883-1889 1890-1895, U.S. Minister to Russia 1894-1897, delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention 1917. Son of John Cabell Breckinridge.[6]
            • Mary Breckinridge (1881-1965), Founder of the Frontier Nursing Service. Daughter of Clifton Rhodes Breckinridge.
          • John Cabell Breckinridge Jr. Married to Isabella Goodrich, daughter of B.F. Goodrich. Son of John Cabell Breckinridge.
            • Mary Marvin Breckinridge (1905-2002), Photojournalist, cinematographer, and philanthropist. Daughter of John Cabell Breckinridge, Jr.
      • Robert Jefferson Breckinridge (1800-1871), Kentucky State Representative 1825-1828, Kentucky Superintendent of Public Instruction 1849-1853, candidate for delegate to the Kentucky Constitutional Convention 1849. Son of John Breckinridge. Married Ann Sophonisba Preston 1823.[7]
        • Mary Cabell Breckinridge, (b. 1828) daughter of Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, married to William Warfield.
          • Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851-1921), Presbyterian theologian, principal of Princeton Theological Seminary. Son of Mary Cabell Breckinridge and William Warfield
        • Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, Jr. (1833-1915), Confederate States Representative from Kentucky 1862-1865, Kentucky Common Pleas Court Judge 1876. Son of Robert Jefferson Breckinridge.[8]
          • • John B. Breckinridge (1913-1979), Kentucky State Representative 1856-1859, Attorney General of Kentucky 1860-1864 1868-1872, delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1860, U.S. Representative from Kentucky 1873-1879. Grandson of Robert Jefferson Breckinridge Jr. Grandnephew of William C.P. Breckinridge and Joseph Cabell Breckinridge.[9]
        • Joseph Cabell Breckinridge (1842-1921), General in the U.S. Army. Son of Robert Jefferson Breckinridge
          • Henry S. Breckinridge (1886-1960), Colonel, Assistant U.S. Secretary of War, prominent attorney, Son of Joseph Cabell Breckinridge.
            • Elizabeth Foster Breckinridge (1911-2005), Prominent Washington, D.C. socialite and philanthropist. Daughter of Henry Skillman Breckinridge. Married to John Stephens Graham, attorney, Assistant U.S. Secretary of Treasury, Chairman of U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
        • William Campbell Preston Breckinridge (1837-1904), delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1876, U.S. Representative from Kentucky 1885-1895. Son of Robert Jefferson Breckinridge.[10]
          • Desha Breckinridge (1867-1935), editor and publisher of the Lexington Herald. Married Madeline McDowell Breckinridge in 1898. Son of W.C.P. Breckinridge, Brother of Sophonisba Breckinridge.
          • Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (1886-1948), Lawyer, Activist involved in Women's rights, Civil Rights, Labor, and Pacifist movements; namesake of Breckinridge House, a dormitory of the University of Chicago. Daughter of W.C.P. Breckinridge, Sister of Desha Breckinridge. .
      • Letitia Breckinridge, Daughter of John Breckinridge. Married Peter B. Porter (1773-1844), New York Assemblyman 1802 1828, U.S. Representative from New York 1809-1813 1815-1816, New York Secretary of State 1815-1816, candidate for Governor of New York 1817, U.S. Secretary of War 1828-1829.[11]
        • • Peter A. Porter (1853-1925), member of the New York Legislature, U.S. Representative from New York 1907-1909. Grandson of Peter Buell Porter.[12]
    • Francis Preston (1765-1736), Virginia House Delegate 1788-1789 1812-1814, U.S. Representative from Virginia 1793-1797, Virginia State Senator 1816-1820. Cousin of John Brown, John Breckinridge, and James Breckinridge, Grandson of Robert Preston.[13]
      • William Campbell Preston (1794-1860), South Carolina State Representative 1828-1834, U.S. Senator from South Carolina 1833-1842. Son of Francis Preston.[14]
      • William Ballard Preston (1805-1862), Virginia House Delegate 1830-1832 1844-1845, Virginia State Senator 1840-1844, U.S. Representative from Virginia 1847-1849, U.S. Secretary of War 1849-1850, Delegate to the Confederate States Congress from Virginia 1861-1862, Confederate States Senator from Virginia 1862. Nephew of Francis Preston.[15]
      • William Preston (1816-1887), delegate to the Kentucky Constitutional Convention 1849, Kentucky State Representative 1850 1868-1869, Kentucky State Senator 1851-1853, U.S. Representative from Kentucky 1852-1855, delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1856, U.S. Minister to Spain 1859-1861. Nephew of Francis Preston.[16]
    • John Brown (1757-1837), Virginia State Senator 1784-1788, Delegate to the Continental Congress from Virginia 1787-1788, U.S. Representative from Virginia 1789-1792, U.S. Senator from Kentucky 1792-1805. Brother of James Brown, Cousin of John Breckinridge, James Breckinridge, and Francis Preston.[17]
      • • B. Gratz Brown (1826-1885), Missouri State Representative 1852-1858, delegate to the Republican National Convention 1860, U.S. Senator from Missouri 1863-1867, Governor of Missouri 1871-1873, candidate for Vice President of the United States 1872. Grandson of John Brown.[18]
    • James Brown (1766-1835), U.S. District Attorney in Kentucky 1791, Kentucky Secretary of State 1792-1798, Secretary of the Orleans Territory 1804, U.S. District Attorney in Louisiana 1805-1808, U.S. Senator from Louisiana 1813-1817 1819-1823, U.S. Minister to France 1823-1829. Brother of John Brown, Cousin of John Breckinridge, James Breckinridge, and Francis Preston.[19]
      • Thomas H. Clay (1803-1871), U.S. Minister to Nicaragua 1863, U.S. Minister to Honduras 1863. Father-in-law of William Campbell Preston Breckinridge.[20]
    • Henry Donnel Foster (1808-1880), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania 1843-1847 1871-1873, Pennsylvania State Representative 1857, candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania 1860. Cousin of John C. Breckinridge.[21]
      • • • L. Irving Handy (1861-1922), U.S. Representative from Delaware 1897-1899, delegate to the Democratic National Convention 1904. Nephew of William Campbell Preston Breckinridge.[22]

NOTE: Peter B. Porter was also uncle of U.S. Senator Augustus S. Porter[23]. Thomas H. Clay was also son of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Henry Clay[24], brother of U.S. Representative James Brown Clay[25], third cousin of U.S. diplomat Brutus Clay[26], fourth cousin of U.S. Senator Clement Claiborne Clay, Jr.[27], first cousin twice removed of U.S. Representative Matthew Clay[28] and Kentucky State Senator Green Clay[29], third cousin once removed of U.S. Senator Clement Comer Clay[30], and second cousin once removed of Alabama State Senator Matthew Clay[31], U.S. Representative Brutus J. Clay[32], and U.S. diplomat Cassius M. Clay[33].