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STUART, Alexander Hugh Holmes, (cousin of Archibald Stuart),
a Representative from Virginia; born in Staunton, Va., April 2, 1807; attended
Staunton Academy and the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.; was graduated from the
University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1828; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1828 and
commenced practice in Staunton; member of the State house of delegates 1836-1839; elected as a
Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1843); unsuccessful candidate for
reelection in 1842 to the Twenty-eighth Congress; served as Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of
President Fillmore from September 16, 1850, to March 6, 1853; member of the State senate
1857-1861; member of the State secession convention in 1861; delegate to the National Convention
of Conservatives at Philadelphia in 1866; presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Thirty-ninth
Congress in 1865 but was not admitted; chairman of the committee of nine, which was instrumental in
restoring Virginia to the Union in 1870; member of the State house of delegates from 1874 to 1877;
rector of the University of Virginia from 1874 to 1882; president of the Virginia Historical Society;
resumed the practice of law; died in Staunton, Va., February 13, 1891; interment in Thornrose
Cemetery.
BibliographyRobertson, Alexander F. Alexander Hugh
Holmes Stuart, 1807-1891: A Biography. Richmond: The William Byrd Press, 1925.
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