James Sproull Cothran (August 8, 1830 – December 5, 1897) was elected to the

U.S. House of Representatives 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 ...

for

South Carolina's 3rd congressional district South Carolina's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in western South Carolina bordering both Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and North Carolina. It includes all of Abbeville County, South Carolina, Abbeville, Anderson County, ...

. He served for two terms from 1887 to 1891.

Biography

James Sproull Cothran was born in

Abbeville County, South Carolina Abbeville County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 24,295. Its county seat is Abbeville. It is the first county (or county equivalent) in the United States alphabetically. Abbevi ...

on August 8, 1830. He attended the country schools and graduated from the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

in 1852. He was an attorney in private practice. He served with the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...

. He was solicitor of the eighth judicial circuit of South Carolina in 1876 and 1880 and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the eighth judicial circuit of South Carolina from 1881 to 1886. He 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 (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the Fiftieth and to the succeeding Congress (March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1891). Cothran was not a candidate for renomination to the Fifty-second Congress in 1890. He died on December 5, 1897, in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

. He was interred in Upper Long Cane Cemetery,

Abbeville, South Carolina Abbeville is a city and county seat of Abbeville County, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is located west of Columbia and south of Greenville. Its population was 5,237 at the 2010 census. Settled by French Huguenot settlers, it was n ...

External links

Congressional biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cothran, James Sproull 1830 births 1897 deaths University of Georgia alumni People from Abbeville County, South Carolina Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives