John Durant ASHMORE, Congress, SC (1819-1871)

ASHMORE, John Durant, (cousin of Robert Thomas Ashmore), a Representative from South Carolina; born in Greenville District, S.C., August 18, 1819; attended the common schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar but never practiced; engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the State house of representatives 1848-1853; comptroller general of the State 1853-1857; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-sixth Congress and served from March 4, 1859, until his retirement on December 21, 1860; chairman, Committee on Mileage (Thirty-sixth Congress); during the Civil War was elected colonel of the Fourth South Carolina Regiment, but resigned before the regiment was called into service; engaged in mercantile pursuits in Greenville, S.C.; died in Sardis, Miss., December 5, 1871; interment in Black Jack Cemetery, near Sardis, in Panola County.

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