James Archibald Meriwether

Meriwether was born near Washington, Georgia, on September 20, 1806, to James and Susannah Hatcher Meriweather. He graduated from the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens with a Bachelor of Arts (AB) degree in 1826.

After studying law and gaining admittance to the state bar, he practiced law in Eatonton, Georgia. He was also captain of a volunteer unit during the Seminole Wars.{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/military/indian/meriwether.txt|title=Putnam County, Ga. – Military Indian Wars Capt J.A. Meriwether 1836|publisher=www.usgwarchives.net|access-date=January 25, 2020}}{{cite book|url=https://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/archives/reedindex.html|title=The History of the University of Georgia|author=Thomas Reed|publisher=University of Georgia|page=216|access-date=January 25, 2020|archive-date=January 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125170548/https://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/archives/reedindex.html|url-status=dead}}

From 1831 to 1836 and again in 1838, Meriwether served in the Georgia House of Representatives as a representative of Clarke County. From 1845 to 1849, he served as a judge of the superior court for the Eatonton (Ocmulgee) district . In 1840, he was elected as a Whig Representative from Georgia to the 27th United States Congress and served one term from March 4, 1841, until March 3, 1843. He returned to the Georgia House in for one term in 1843. In 1851 he was once again elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, and served as Speaker of that body in 1852.

Meriwether married Rebecca Carleton McKigney, and together the couple had eight children who survived past childhood.{{cite web|url=http://gentrekker.com/getperson.php?personID=I23971&tree=Dickinson|title=Hon. James Archibald Meriwether|publisher=Southern Anthology – Families on the Frontiers of the Old South|access-date=January 25, 2020}}

Meriwether died on April 18, 1852, in Eatonton and was buried in that city's Union Cemetery.

• List of speakers of the Georgia House of Representatives

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• [http://american-south.org/export/html/dlg/lump/amso_dlg_lump_jhl0079.html?Welcome Letter dated April 25, 1852 reporting the sudden death of Judge James Archibald Meriwether]
• [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/cgi-bin/ebind2html.pl/reed_c03?seq=49 History of the University of Georgia, Thomas Walter Reed, Imprint: Athens, Georgia : University of Georgia, ca. 1949, pp. 215–216]
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Category:1806 births

Category:1852 deaths

Category:Members of the Georgia House of Representatives

Category:Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers

Category:Georgia (U.S. state) state court judges

Category:University of Georgia alumni

Category:American people of the Seminole Wars

Category:People from Wilkes County, Georgia

Category:Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:People from Eatonton, Georgia

Category:19th-century Georgia (U.S. state) state court judges

Category:19th-century American lawyers

Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly