James Jefferson BRITT, Congress, NC (1861-1939)

BRITT, James Jefferson, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Unico County, near Johnson City, Tenn., March 4, 1861; attended the common schools and studied under private tutors; principal of Burnsville (N.C.) Academy 1886-1893; superintendent of the public schools of Mitchell County 1894-1896; headmaster of Bowman Academy, Bakersville, N.C., 1895-1896; deputy collector of internal revenue at Asheville, N.C., 1896-1899; studied law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; was admitted to the bar in 1900 and commenced practice in Asheville, N.C.; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1904; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1906 to the Sixtieth Congress; special assistant United States attorney in 1906 and 1907; member of the State senate 1909-1911; special counsel to the Post Office Department, July 1, 1909-December 1, 1910; special assistant to the Attorney General, July 13, 1910-December 1, 1910; appointed Third Assistant Postmaster General by President Taft on December 1, 1910, and served until March 17, 1913; elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1917); successfully contested the election of Zebulon Weaver to the Sixty-fifth Congress (March 1, 1919-March 3, 1919); unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Sixty-sixth Congress in 1918; resumed the practice of law in Asheville, N.C.; served as chief counsel for the Bureau of Prohibition, Treasury Department, 1922-1932; was an unsuccessful candidate for chief justice of the supreme court of North Carolina in 1926; resumed the practice of law in 1933; died on December 26, 1939, in Asheville, N.C.; interment in Riverside Cemetery.

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