History of Jackson, (Hinds County) Mississippi United States of America

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James Zachariah George, senator, was born in Monroe county, Ga., Oct. 20, 1826. He was deprived of a father's care when two years old and in 1834 his mother removed with the family to Mississippi, settling first in Noxubee county and in 1836 in Carroll county. His educational advantages were limited, but through reading and self-directed study of the classics he acquired a good education. In 1846 he joined the 1st Mississippi rifles, commanded by Col. Jefferson Davis, and served in the ranks at Monterey. After the war he was admitted to the bar and in 1854 and again in 1860 was elected state reporter for the high court of errors and appeals. In 1861 he was a delegate to the Mississippi state convention where he voted for and signed the ordinance of secession and immediately after enlisted in the 20th Mississippi regiment, serving at Fort Donelson as captain. In 1862 he was commissioned brigadier-general of state troops and in 1863 colonel of the 5th Mississippi cavalry. He led a charge at Collierville, Tenn., and was captured and kept a prisoner at Johnson's island until the close of the war. In 1872 he formed a partnership with Judge Willey P. Harris at Jackson, Miss., and this brought him in touch with the prominent Democratic leaders of state affairs. In 1875 and 1876 he was chairman of the Democratic state executive committee. He was appointed a judge of the supreme court of the state in 1879 and was elected chief justice of the court. He resigned in 1881 to take his seat in the U.S. senate, having been elected in 1880. He was re-elected in 1886 and again in 1892. He was a delegate-at-large to the Mississippi state constitutional convention of 1890 and in the senate ably and logically defended the work of that body. In the senate he was chairman of the committee on agriculture and forestry, a member of the committee on education and labor, of the judiciary committee, of the transportation committee, and of the select committee on woman suffrage; and in 1895 was chairman of the select committee to investigate the condition of the Potomac river front at Washington. He published a digest in ten volumes of the decisions of the supreme court and high court of errors and appeals of Mississippi. He died at Jackson, Miss., Aug. 14, 1897.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Jackson, (Hinds County) Mississippi

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