David Holmes (politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See David Holmes for other persons with this name.

David Holmes (March 10, 1769 – August 20, 1832) was the last governor of the Mississippi Territory and the first governor of the State of Mississippi.

Born in York County, Pennsylvania, Holmes and his family moved to Virginia when he was a child. He served as U.S. Representative from Virginia from 1797 until 1808 when President Jefferson appointed him Mississippi's fourth territorial governor. Holmes was very popular and his appointment marked the end of a long period of factionalism within the territory.

In 1817, Mississippi joined the Union as the 20th state and Holmes won the election to be the first governor of the State of Mississippi. Holmes took the oath of office in October 1817, though Mississippi did not officially become a state until December of that year. During his term, he established the state judicial system and the state militia and organized the land east of the Pearl River that the Choctaw Indians ceded. He served a complete term of two years, but Governor Holmes decided not to run for re-election in 1819.

In 1820, the state legislature elected Holmes to be one of Mississippi's Senators in the U.S. Congress, and he served from 1821 until late 1825, when his election to another term as governor of Mississippi forced him to resign. Because Holmes's declining health forced him to resign, he served only six months (January 1826 - July 1826) as Mississippi's sixth governor.

Holmes returned to his native Virginia where his health continued to fail before his death in 1832 at Jordan's Sulphur Springs, near Winchester, Virginia, where he still lies in the Mt. Hebron Cemetery.

[edit] Trivia

Holmes County, Mississippi is named in honor of him.

[edit] External links

• biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website

v • d • e Governors of Mississippi Holmes • Poindexter • Leake • Brandon • Holmes • Brandon • Scott • Lynch • Runnels • Quitman • Lynch • McNutt • Tucker • Brown • Matthews • Quitman • Guion • J. Whitfield • Foote • Pettus • McRae • McWillie • Pettus • Clark • Sharkey • Humphreys • Ames • Alcorn • Powers • Ames • Stone • Lowry • Stone • McLaurin • Longino • Vardaman • Noel • Brewer • Bilbo • Russell • H. Whitfield • Murphree • Bilbo • Conner • White • Johnson • Murphree • Bailey • Wright • White • Coleman • Barnett • Johnson Jr. • Williams • Waller • Finch • Winter • Allain • Mabus • Fordice • Musgrove • Barbour

v • d • e United States Senators from Mississippi Class 1: Leake • Holmes • Ellis • Reed • Ellis • Black • Trotter • T. Hickman Williams • Henderson • Speight • Davis • McRae • S. Adams • Davis • Ames • Pease • Bruce • George • Money • J. Williams • Stephens • Bilbo • Stennis • Lott • Wicker Class 2: T. Hill Williams • Reed • R. Adams • Poindexter • Walker • Chalmers • Foote • Brooke • Brown • Revels • Alcorn • Lamar • Walthall • McLaurin • Walthall • Sullivan • McLaurin • Gordon • Percy • Vardaman • Harrison • Eastland • Doxey • Eastland • Cochran