Name George Strother Children James F. Strother | Died November 28, 1840 Role Politician | |
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Education College of William & Mary | ||
George French Strother (1783 – November 28, 1840) was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer in Virginia and Missouri.
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Early life and Virginia political career
Born in Stevensburg, Virginia, to prominent Culpeper County attorney French Strother (1739–1800) and his wife the former Lucy Coleman, George Strother attended the College of William and Mary. After studying law, George Strother too was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Culpeper County, Virginia.
George Strother succeeded his father in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1806–1809. In 1816, the year voters elected fellow Virginian James Monroe president, George Strother was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican, where he served from 1817 to 1820.
Missouri
After the Missouri Compromise led to Missouri's admission as a slave state, Strother, a slaveholder who had owned 7 slaves in Culpeper County in 1810, then moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he became receiver of public money. He practiced law in St. Louis for many years. A nephew with the same name caused a sensation by stabbing a fellow lawyer from Virginia named Horatio Cozens to death in the courthouse over a political dispute on behalf of this George Strother. The murderer then fled to Mexico, where he reportedly died.
Family
George French Strother married Sarah Green Williams, daughter of Gen. James Williams, of "Soldier's Rest" in Orange County, Virginia. The couple had two children: Sarah Williams Strother (1810–1885), James French Strother (1811–1860) (and grandfather of another named James French Strother who served in Virginia's Constitutional Convention of 1850). After Sarah died, Strother married Theodosia, daughter of John Hunt, of Lexington, Kentucky, and had two more children, Sallie and John Hunt Strother (1812–1863).
Death and legacy
George Strother died on November 28, 1840. He was originally interred in Christ Church Cemetery and in 1860 was reinterred in Bellefontaine Cemetery.