United States House of Representatives: History, Art, & Archives
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BECK, James Burnie

BECK, James Burnie
Library of Congress
BECK, James Burnie
1822–1890

Office

Representative, Senator

State/Territory

Kentucky

Party

Democrat

Congress(es)

40th (1867–1869), 41st (1869–1871), 42nd (1871–1873), 43rd (1873–1875), 45th (1877–1879), 46th (1879–1881), 47th (1881–1883), 48th (1883–1885), 49th (1885–1887), 50th (1887–1889), 51st (1889–1891)

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Biography

BECK, James Burnie, a Representative and a Senator from Kentucky; born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, February 13, 1822; immigrated to the United States in 1838 and settled in Wyoming County, N.Y.; moved to Lexington, Ky., in 1843 and was graduated from Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., in 1846; admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Lexington; elected as a Democrat to the Fortieth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1867-March 3, 1875); appointed in May 1876 a member of the commission to define the boundary line between Maryland and Virginia; elected to the United States Senate in 1876; reelected in 1882, again in 1888, and served from March 4, 1877, until his death in Washington, D.C., on May 3, 1890; Democratic Conference Chairman 1885-1890; chairman, Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (Forty-sixth Congress); interment in Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Ky.

View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

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External Research Collections

Emory University
Robert W. Woodruff Library

Atlanta, GA
Papers: Correspondence in James Pinkney Hambleton papers, 1857-1893.

Filson Club Historical Society

Louisville, KY
Papers: 1868-1890. 20 miscellaneous items. Additional Papers: Letters and photographs in the Thorn family and Frank C. Carpenter papers; Charles Lanman collection; Norvin Green papers; Samuel Smith Nicholas papers; and a John Harlan Marshall letter. Finding aid.

Kentucky Historical Society

Frankfort, KY
Papers: 4 letters (1880, 1881, 1888) concerning politics in the Harry Innes Todd collection.

University of Kentucky Libraries
Special Collections and Archives

Lexington, KY
Papers: 27 items (1859-1889) in various collections.

Western Kentucky University Library
Special Collections

Bowling Green, KY
Papers: 1883, 1896. 2 items. Biographical sketch and news clipping.
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Bibliography / Further Reading

U.S. Congress. Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of James B. Beck, (a Senator from Kentucky): Delivered in the Senate and House of Representatives. 51st Cong., 2d sess., 1891. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891.

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Office of the Historian: history@mail.house.gov
Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov