John Lowndes McLAURIN, Congress, SC (1860-1934)

McLAURIN, John Lowndes, a Representative and a Senator from South Carolina; born in Red Bluff, Marlboro County, S.C., May 9, 1860; attended schools at Bennettsville, S.C., and Englewood, N.J., Bethel Military Academy, near Warrenton, Va., and Swarthmore (Pa.) College; graduated from the Carolina Military Institute; studied law in the University of Virginia at Charlottesville; admitted to the bar in 1883 and practiced in Bennettsville, Marlboro County, S.C.; member, State house of representatives 1890-1891; attorney general of the State 1891-1897; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Eli T. Stackhouse; reelected to the Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-fifth Congresses and served from December 5, 1892, until May 31, 1897, when he resigned; appointed and subsequently elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Joseph H. Earle and served from June 1, 1897, to March 3, 1903; was not a candidate for reelection; censured by the Senate in 1902 for an assault in which he participated on the Senate floor; moved to New York City and resumed the practice of law; returned to Bennettsville, S.C., and engaged in agricultural pursuits; member, State senate 1914-1915; author of the State warehouse system for storing and financing cotton; served as State warehouse commissioner from 1915 until his resignation in 1917; died at his estate near Bennettsville, S.C., July 29, 1934; interment in McCall Cemetery.

Bibliography

Stroup, Rodger E. “John L. McLaurin: A Political Biography.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of South Carolina, 1980.

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