Jump to content

John J. McRae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John J. McRae
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's 5th district
In office
December 7, 1858 – January 12, 1861
Preceded byJohn A. Quitman
Succeeded byLegrand W. Perce
21st Governor of Mississippi
In office
January 10, 1854 – November 16, 1857
Preceded byJohn J. Pettus
Succeeded byWilliam McWillie
United States Senator
from Mississippi
In office
December 1, 1851 – March 17, 1852
Appointed byJames Whitfield
Preceded byJefferson Davis
Succeeded byStephen Adams
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
In office
1847–1851
Personal details
Born
John Jones McRae

(1815-01-10)January 10, 1815
Sneedsboro, North Carolina, United States
DiedMay 31, 1868(1868-05-31) (aged 53)
Belize City, British Honduras
Political partyDemocratic

John Jones McRae (January 10, 1815 – May 31, 1868) was an American politician in Mississippi. A Democrat,[1] he served in the Mississippi House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and as governor of Mississippi.

Biography

[edit]

McRae was born in Sneedsboro, North Carolina. In 1817, he moved with his parents to Winchester, Mississippi.[2] In 1834, McRae founded the town of Enterprise in Clarke County. McRae attempted to navigate the Chickasawhay River by steamboat, and in 1842 took a steamboat from Lake Ponchartrain to Enterprise.[3]

He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1847 to 1851.[1] During that time, he helped set up the University of Mississippi.[4] He also represented Mississippi in the United States Senate in 1851 and 1852, in the U.S. Congress in the 35th and 36th congresses, and in the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War.[1] He also served as the 21st Governor of Mississippi from 1854 to 1857.[1]

He died on a visit to British Honduras (now Belize), where his brother Colin J. McRae lived in exile.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Colin J. McRae Collection, Columbia, South Carolina: South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum
  2. ^ "McRAE, John Jones, (1815 - 1868)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  3. ^ Lowry, Robert; McCardle, William H. (1891). A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis. Jackson, Mississippi: R. H. Henry & Company. p. 461.
  4. ^ a b Donald C. Simmons, Jr., Confederate Settlements in British Honduras, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2001, p. 91 [1]
Party political offices
Vacant
Title last held by
John A. Quitman
Democratic nominee for Governor of Mississippi
1853, 1855
Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 1) from Mississippi
1851–1852
Served alongside: Henry S. Foote, Walker Brooke
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Governor of Mississippi
1854-1857
Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Mississippi's 5th congressional district

1858 – 1861
Succeeded by