Elijah Conner Phister (October 8, 1822 – May 16, 1887) was a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. He was born in

Maysville, Kentucky Maysville is a "Home rule in the United States, home rule" class city in Mason County, Kentucky, Mason County, Kentucky, United States, and is the county seat of Mason County. The population was 8,873 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. He attended the Seminary of Rand and Richardson in Maysville and graduated from Augusta College in Augusta, Kentucky, in August 1840. He then studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

in Philadelphia under John Sergeant and at Payne & Waller in Maysville. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in 1844.

Political career

Phister served two terms as mayor of Maysville in 1847 and 1848. He was a circuit judge 1856–1862 and a member of the

Kentucky House of Representatives The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a ...

1867–1871. He was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the Kentucky statutes in 1872 but declined. Phister was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1883). After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law.

Personal life

Phister married Jane A. Paddock (1830–1923) in 1847 and they had five children. He was a member of the

Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political, non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Odd Fellows, Order ...

. Phister died in Maysville, Kentucky in 1887 and was buried in the City Cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phister, Elijah 1822 births 1887 deaths Kentucky lawyers Kentucky state court judges 19th-century mayors of places in Kentucky Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives People from Maysville, Kentucky Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky 19th-century Kentucky state court judges 19th-century American lawyers Augusta College (Kentucky) alumni 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly