Franklin Harper Elmore (1799 - 1850)

Born 15 Oct 1799 in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Died 29 May 1850 at age 50 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

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Preceded by John C. Calhoun

Franklin H. Elmore US Senator (Class 2) from South Carolina 1850

Succeeded by Robert Woodward Barnwell

Biography

Franklin Elmore is Notable.

Franklin Harper Elmore was the son of John Archer Elmore. He graduated from the South Carolina College at Columbia in 1819, was admitted to the bar two years later, and set up practice in Walterboro, South Carolina. He was married to Harriet Chesnut Taylor, daughter of Gov. John Taylor, and they had nine children.

He was a prominent figure of South Carolina politics in the years before the Civil War. From 1822 to 1836 he was a solicitor for the Southern Circuit, and from 1824 to 1826 he was a Colonel on the Governor's staff. A State Rights Democrat, he won a special 1836 election to the Twenty-Fourth Congress to fill the vacancy left by Rep. James H. Hammond, who had resigned. He was subsequently reelected to the Twenty-Fifth Congress and served until 1839.

He did not seek a third term, returning instead to Columbia for what turned out to be a more influential position. As President of the Bank of the State of South Carolina from 1839 until his death, Elmore wielded power that rivaled the governorship. Governor Benjamin Franklin Perry would later write, "The Bank of the State became, in a measure, a political machine, and the politicians were very freely accommodated with loans by the Board of Directors. The Bank controlled the State, and Colonel Elmore controlled the bank".

His commitment was such that in 1845 he declined an appointment by President James Polk to serve as Minister to Great Britain. With the death of John C. Calhoun in 1850, Elmore accepted appointment to complete his term in the United States Senate. He served less than seven weeks, from April 11 to May 29, before his unexpected death from erysipelas. His remains were brought back to Columbia for burial.

Sources

• Meynard, Virginia G. History of Lower Richland County and Its Early Planters. Columbia, South Carolina: The R. L. Bryan Company, 2010, p 71.
• Taylor, Benjamin Franklin. John Taylor and His Taylor Descendants. The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Volume VIII. Charleston: The Daggett Printing Co., 1907, pp 99, 110.
• Find A Grave Memorial# 8066729
• Franklin H. Elmore on Wikipedia
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress