Asbury Francis LEVER, Congress, SC (1875-1940)

LEVER, Asbury Francis, a Representative from South Carolina; born near Springhill, Lexington County, S.C., January 5, 1875; attended the country schools; was graduated from Newberry (S.C.) College in 1895; taught school for two years; private secretary to Representative J. William Stokes 1897-1901; was graduated from the law department of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1899; was admitted to the bar in South Carolina the same year but did not practice; delegate to the Democratic State conventions in 1896 and 1900; member of the State house of representatives in 1901; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of J. William Stokes; reelected to the Fifty-eighth and to the eight succeeding Congresses and served from November 5, 1901, until August 1, 1919, when he resigned to become a member of the Federal Farm Loan Board, in which capacity he served until 1922; chairman, Committee on Education (Sixty-second Congress), Committee on Agriculture (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses); member of the boards of trustees of Clemson (S.C.) College and Newberry (S.C.) College; elected president of the First Carolinas Joint Stock Land Bank at Columbia, S.C., in 1922; field representative of Federal Farm Board; director of the public relations administration of the Farm Credit Administration until his death on April 28, 1940, at “Seven Oaks,” near Charleston, S.C.; interment in College Hill Cemetery, on campus of Clemson Agricultural College, Clemson, S.C.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present