Name Peter Early | ||
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Previous office Representative 1803–1807 Member of congress start date January 10, 1803 | ||
Peter Early (June 20, 1773 – August 15, 1817) was an American lawyer, jurist and politician.
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Early life
He was born near Madison in the Colony of Virginia, in 1773, the son of Joel Early and Lucy Smith. His cousin, Jubal Early, was the grandfather of Confederate General Jubal Anderson Early (1816–1894). Peter Early graduated from the Lexington Academy (current-day Washington and Lee University). He later graduated from Princeton College, in 1792. His family moved to Wilkes County, Georgia, that same year; however, Early was studying law with Jared Ingersoll in Philadelphia.
After finishing his legal studies, Peter Early joined his family in Wilkes County, married Ann Adams Smith in 1793, and in 1796 began his law practice in Washington, Georgia. Sister Lucy Early married Charles Lewis Mathews.
Political life
Early was elected as a Representative from Georgia to the 8th United States Congress to serve the remainder of the term left vacant by the resignation of John Milledge, and he was re-elected to the 9th Congress. During his congressional service, Early was one of the managers of the prosecution in the impeachment trials against John Pickering, New Hampshire United States District Court judge, in January 1804 and Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, in December of that year. Early did not seek re-election in 1806.
After his congressional service, Early was elected by the Georgia General Assembly as judge of the Superior Court, Ocmulgee Circuit, and presided over that court from 1807 until 1813. The respect and popularity he gained from his service on the bench propelled him to be elected the 28th Governor of Georgia in 1813. He served one term, through 1815, during which he was instrumental in committing funds on several occasions from the state treasury to help raise and supply additional troops from Georgia to the American military forces during the latter half of the War of 1812.
Early moved to Greene County after his gubernatorial term, where he was elected to the Georgia Senate.
Death and legacy
During his term in the Georgia Senate, Peter Early died on August 15, 1817, at his summer home near Scull Shoals in Greene County and was buried on the west bank of the Oconee River near his Fontenoy Plantation home, with a simple monument to mark his grave.
In 1914, his family had his remains reinterred in the Greensboro City Cemetery.
Early County, Georgia, and Fort Early were named in his honor.