Johnson Newlon Camden Jr. (January 5, 1865 – August 16, 1942) was a

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

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 ...

. His father, Johnson N. Camden, had been a United States Senator from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. Born in

Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in Wood County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. Located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Little Kanawha River, Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's List of municipalities in West Virginia ...

, Camden Jr. attended Episcopal High School in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was Settler, settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed. ...

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an Independent city (United States)#Virginia, independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, Virg ...

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and the law school at

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

. Although admitted to the bar in 1888, he never practiced. Camden moved to Spring Hill Farm, near

Versailles, Kentucky Versailles is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. It lies by road west of Lexington and is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Versailles has a population of 10,534 according to 2024 ce ...

, in 1890 and became involved in farming and

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given Horse breed, breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired chara ...

and

racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

. He served for a time as president of the Kentucky Jockey Club. He was also interested in the opening and development of the coal fields in eastern Kentucky. He was appointed as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate on June 16, 1914, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of

William O. Bradley William O'Connell Bradley (March 18, 1847May 23, 1914) was an American politician from the state of Kentucky. He served as the 32nd Governor of Kentucky and was later elected by the state legislature as a U.S. senator from that state. The fir ...

, whose term was about to expire. Camden did not run for the full term, but won a special election for the last four months of the current term on November 3, 1914, and served until March 3, 1915. He went back to agricultural activities on a farm near

Paris, Kentucky Paris is a home rule-class city in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and the county seat. It lies northeast of Lexington on the Stoner Fork of the Licking River. It is part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2020, it ha ...

, until he died, aged 77. He was buried in Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort. In what is a mystery to many, Camden had the University Library at the then Morehead State Teachers College, now Morehead State University in

Morehead, Kentucky Morehead is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city located along U.S. Route 60 in Kentucky, US 60 (the historic Midland Trail) and Interstate 64 in Kentucky, Interstate 64 in Rowan County, Kentucky, Rowan County, Kentucky, in the United ...

, named for him in 1929. Camden had no ties to the school, nor had he ever visited.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Camden, Johnson N. Jr. 1865 births 1942 deaths Burials at Frankfort Cemetery People from Paris, Kentucky People from Versailles, Kentucky Columbia Law School alumni People from Virginia Politicians from Parkersburg, West Virginia Democratic Party United States senators from Kentucky American racehorse owners and breeders Kentucky Democrats Lawyers from Parkersburg, West Virginia 20th-century United States senators