Robert RIDGWAY, Congress, VA (1823-1870)

RIDGWAY, Robert, a Representative from Virginia; born in Lynchburg, Amherst County, Va., April 21, 1823; attended Emory and Henry College, Emory, Va.; was graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Liberty (now Bedford), Va.; edited the Bedford Sentinel; moved to Richmond, Va., in 1853; edited the Richmond Whig until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he retired to Amherst; elected as a Whig to the Fortieth Congress, but as reconstruction measures were not completed was not permitted to qualify; elected as a Conservative to the Forty-first Congress in July 1869; took his seat January 27, 1870, and served until his death at Cool Well, Amherst County, Va., October 16, 1870; interment in the family cemetery at Amherst, Va.

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