Hopkins Lacy Turney (October 3, 1797August 1, 1857) was a Democratic

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the 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 Article One of th ...

and

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

Biography

Turney was born in the Smith County settlement of Dixon Springs, Tennessee. As a youth, he was apprenticed to a

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

. He served in the

Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

in 1818. Subsequent to this he 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 ...

, and passed the

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

examination and began a practice in

Jasper, Tennessee Jasper is a town in and the county seat of Marion County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,612 at the 2020 census. The town was formed in 1820 from lands acquired from Betsy Pack, daughter of Cherokee Chief John Lowery. Jasper is p ...

. Later he moved to

Winchester, Tennessee Winchester is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Tennessee, United States. It is part of the Winchester micropolitan area. The population of Winchester as of the 2020 census was 9,375. History Winchester was created as the seat o ...

, continuing the practice of law. He owned slaves. He was first elected to 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 consis ...

in 1828. He married Teresa Francis, the daughter of Miller Francis and Hannah Henry, in 1826. She was born December 9, 1809, and died September 5, 1879. Hopkins and Teresa were the parents of nine children. Their son Peter Turney (September 22, 1827October 19, 1903) was Chief Justice of the

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the highest court in the state of Tennessee. The Supreme Court's three buildings are seated in Nashville, Knoxville, and Jackson, Tennessee. The Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, and four justice ...

from 1870 to 1893; and served as

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

from 1893 to 1897. He was then elected to the U.S. House, serving three terms in that body from 1837 to 1843, the 25th through 27th Congresses. Subsequent to this he was elected by the

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Tennessee Senate, Senate and a Tennessee House of Representa ...

to the U.S. Senate, returning to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, after a two-year hiatus and serving one six-year term in that body, where he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Retrenchment for four years and the U.S. Senate Committee on Patents and the Patent Office for two before returning to his law practice, which he engaged in until shortly before his death. He is buried in Winchester.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turney, Hopkins L. 1797 births 1857 deaths People from Smith County, Tennessee American people of Swiss-German descent Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee Democratic Party United States senators from Tennessee Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Tennessee lawyers People from Jasper, Tennessee People from Winchester, Tennessee 19th-century American lawyers American people of the Seminole Wars Military personnel from Tennessee United States senators who owned slaves Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly