George Poindexter

George Poindexter was a Delegate, a Representative and a Senator from Mississippi. He also served as state governor and as a Federal judge.

Early life

Poindexter was born in Louisa County, Virginia in 1779. He had a sporadic education, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1800 and commenced practice in Milton, Virginia.

Mississippi

He moved to the Territory of Mississippi in 1802 and practiced law in Natchez; this was to be his political base. attorney general of the Territory; member, Territorial general assembly 1805; elected as a Delegate from Mississippi Territory to the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Congresses (March 4, 1807-March 3, 1813); United States district judge for the Territory 1813-1817; served in the War of 1812

Congress

Upon the admission of Mississippi as a State into the Union, he was elected to the Fifteenth Congress and served from December 10, 1817, to March 3, 1819; chairman, Committee on Public Lands (Fifteenth Congress).

He served as Governor of Mississippi 1819-1822; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1820 to the Seventeenth Congress and in 1822 to the Eighteenth Congress, but was appointed in 1830 to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert H. Adams; subsequently elected, and served from October 15, 1830, to March 3, 1835; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Twenty-third Congress; chairman, Committee on Private Land Claims (Twenty-second Congress), Committee on Public Lands (Twenty-third Congress)

Private life

He moved to Kentucky and resumed the practice of his profession in Lexington; returned to Jackson, Miss., and continued the practice of law until his death on September 5, 1853; interment in Jackson Cemetery. [From the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress]