Finis James GARRETT, Congress, TN (1875-1956)

GARRETT, Finis James, a Representative from Tennessee; born near Ore Springs, Weakley County, Tenn., August 26, 1875; attended the common schools and Clinton (Ky.) College; graduated from Bethel College, McKenzie, Tenn., 1897; newspaper editor; teacher; lawyer, private practice; appointed master in chancery September 14, 1900-January 24, 1905; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1924; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-ninth and to the eleven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1905-March 3, 1929); chairman, Committee on Insular Affairs (Sixty-fifth Congress); minority leader (Sixty-eighth through Seventieth Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination to the Seventy-first Congress in 1928, but was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator; appointed judge of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, 1929-1937; presiding judge of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, 1937-1955; died on May 25, 1956, in Washington, D.C.; interment in Sunset Cemetery, Dresden, Tenn.

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