James BRECKINRIDGE, Congress, VA (1763-1833)
BRECKINRIDGE, James, (brother of John Breckinridge, great-great-great-uncle of John Bayne Breckinridge, and cousin of John Brown of Virginia and Kentucky, James Brown, and Francis Preston), a Representative from Virginia; born near Fincastle, Botetourt County, Va., March 7, 1763; studied under private tutors; during the Revolutionary War served in Colonel Prestonâs rifle regiment under General Greene; attended Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), Lexington, Va., and was graduated from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., in 1785; studied law; was admitted to the bar and practiced in Fincastle; member of the State house of delegates 1789-1802, 1806-1808, 1819-1821 and 1823-1824; took a special interest in the construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal; elected as a Federalist to the Eleventh and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1809-March 3, 1817); was an associate of Thomas Jefferson in the establishment of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.; served as brigadier general in the War of 1812; resumed the practice of law; died at his country home, âGrove Hill,â Botetourt County, Va., May 13, 1833; interment in the family burial plot on his estate near Fincastle, Va.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
