Charles Triplett O’FERRALL, Congress, VA (1840-1905)

O’FERRALL, Charles Triplett, a Representative from Virginia; born in Brucetown, Frederick County, Va., October 21, 1840; attended the common schools; appointed clerk pro tempore of the circuit court of Morgan County, Va., in 1855; elected clerk in 1857; enlisted in the Confederate Cavalry as a private in May 1861; passed through all the grades from sergeant to colonel and at the close of the Civil War was in command of the Confederate Cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley; was graduated from the law department of Washington College, Lexington, Va., in 1869; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Harrisonburg, Va.; member of the State house of delegates 1871-1873; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1872 to the Forty-third Congress; judge of the county court of Rockingham County 1874-1880; Democratic State canvasser 1880-1883; successfully contested as a Democrat the election of John Paul to the Forty-eighth Congress; reelected to the Forty-ninth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from May 5, 1884, until December 28, 1893, when he resigned, having been elected Governor; chairman, Committee on Mines and Mining (Fiftieth Congress), Committee on Elections (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses); Governor of the State of Virginia 1894-1898; resumed the practice of law and also engaged in writing reminiscences of the Civil War; died in Richmond, Va., September 22, 1905; interment in Hollywood Cemetery.

Bibliography

Wynes, Charles E. “Charles T. O’Ferrall and the Virginia Gubernatorial Election of 1893.” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 64 (October 1956): 437-53.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present