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Porter, James Davis

soldier, lawyer, jurist, state legislator, governor, was born Dec. 7, 1828, in Paris, Tenn. In 1859 he was elected a representative in the Tennessee legislature. He served in the confederate army throughout the civil war as chief of staff on the staff of General Cheatham. In 1870 he was elected a member of the state constitutional convention of Tennessee; and in the summer of the same year was elected circuit judge for the twelfth judicial circuit of Tennessee.

In 1874 he was elected governor of Tennessee, serving until 1879. In 1880 he was elected president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad company, and was four times re-elected. In 1885 he was appointed assistant secretary of state.