Benjamin Augustine Enloe (January 18, 1848 – July 8, 1922) was an American politician and a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

for the 8th congressional district of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

Biography

Enloe was born on January 18, 1848, in

Clarksburg, Tennessee Clarksburg is a town in Carroll County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 393 at the 2010 census. Geography Clarksburg is in southern Carroll County, along Tennessee State Route 22, which leads north to Huntingdon, the county seat, a ...

son of Benjamin S. and Nancy O. Blair Enloe. He attended Bethel College (

McKenzie, Tennessee McKenzie is a city at the tripoint of Carroll, Henry, and Weakley counties in Tennessee, United States. The population was 5,310 at the 2010 census. It is home to Bethel University and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology at McKenzie ...

) and

Cumberland University Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was founded in 1842. The campus's current historic buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896. History 1842-1861 The university was founded by the Cumberland ...

in (

Lebanon, Tennessee Lebanon is the county seat of Wilson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 38,431 at the 2020 census. Lebanon is located in Middle Tennessee, approximately east of downtown Nashville. Lebanon is part of the Nashville Metropoli ...

). He married Fannie Howard Ashworth on April 5, 1870, and they had two children, Benjamin Augustine and Marie.

Career

While a student at

, Enloe was elected a member of the

Tennessee House of Representatives The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Constitutional requirements According to the state constitution of 1870, this body is to cons ...

in 1869. He was re-elected under the new state constitution in 1870. He graduated from the

Cumberland Law School Cumberland School of Law is an ABA accredited law school at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1847 at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee and is the 11th oldest law school in the United States an ...

in 1872, was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

in 1873, and began practice in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackso ...

. He was a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

in 1872 and in 1880. He was appointed by Governor

Albert S. Marks Albert Smith Marks (October 16, 1836November 4, 1891) was an American attorney, soldier and politician. He was the 21st governor of Tennessee from 1879 to 1881. Prior to that, he had served as a state chancery court judge. Marks fought for the ...

in 1878 to negotiate the settling of the state deficit. He served on the state executive committee from 1878 to 1880. He edited the ''Jackson Tribune'' and the ''Daily Sun'' from 1874 to 1886. Enloe was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the Fiftieth and the three following Congresses. During the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses, he was chairman of the

United States House Committee on Education The Committee on Education and Labor is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. There are 50 members in this committee. Since 2019, the chair of the Education and Labor committee is Robert Cortez Scott of Virginia. ...

. Not successful as a candidate for re-election in 1894 to the

Fifty-fourth Congress The 54th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 189 ...

. He served from March 4, 1887, to March 4, 1895. After editing the ''Daily Sun'' at

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, for two years, Enloe moved to

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

, and edited the ''Louisville Dispatch'' for two years. He was secretary of the state fair commission and director of exhibits from Tennessee at the

St. Louis World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 milli ...

in 1903. Elected railroad commissioner of Tennessee, Enloe served from 1904 until his death.

Death

Enloe died at his home in Nashville on July 8, 1922, aged 74. He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Enloe, Benjamin A. 1848 births 1922 deaths Cumberland University alumni Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives People from Nashville, Tennessee Bethel University (Tennessee) alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee People from Carroll County, Tennessee