Editing Jeter C. Pritchard

{{Short description|American judge (1857–1921)}}
{{redirect|Senator Pritchard}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name          = Jeter C. Pritchard
| honorific-suffix =
| image         = Jeter Connelly Pritchard.jpg
| alt           =
| caption       =
| office        = Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit]]
| term_start    = April 27, 1904
| term_end      = April 10, 1921
| nominator     =
| appointer     = [[List of federal judges appointed by Theodore Roosevelt|Theodore Roosevelt]]
| predecessor   = [[Charles Henry Simonton]]
| successor     = [[Edmund Waddill Jr.]]
| office1       = Judge of the [[United States circuit court|United States Circuit Courts for the Fourth Circuit]]
| term_start1   = April 27, 1904
| term_end1     = December 31, 1911
| nominator1    =
| appointer1    = [[List of federal judges appointed by Theodore Roosevelt|Theodore Roosevelt]]
| predecessor1  = [[Charles Henry Simonton]]
| successor1    = ''Seat abolished''
| office2       = Associate Justice of the [[Supreme Court of the District of Columbia]]
| term_start2   = November 16, 1903
| term_end2     = June 1, 1904
| nominator2    =
| appointer2    = [[List of federal judges appointed by Theodore Roosevelt|Theodore Roosevelt]]
| predecessor2  = [[Harry M. Clabaugh]]
| successor2    = [[Wendell Phillips Stafford]]
| jr/sr3        = United States Senator
| state3        = [[North Carolina]]
| term_start3   = January 23, 1895
| term_end3     = March 3, 1903
| predecessor3  = [[Thomas Jordan Jarvis]]
| successor3    = [[Lee Slater Overman]]
| office4       = Member of the<br>[[North Carolina House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Madison County, North Carolina|Madison County]]
| term_start4   = 1891
| term_end4     = 1893
| predecessor4  = [[D. F. Lawson]]
| successor4    = [[Charles B. Mashburn]]
| term_start5   = 1885
| term_end5     = 1889
| predecessor5  = [[D. S. Ball]]
| successor5    = D. F. Lawson
| birth_name    = Jeter Connelly Pritchard
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1857|07|12}}
| birth_place   = [[Jonesboro, Tennessee|Jonesboro]], Tennessee
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1921|04|10|1857|07|12}}
| death_place   = [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]], North Carolina
| resting_place = [[Riverside Cemetery (Asheville, North Carolina)|Riverside Cemetery]]<br>Asheville, North Carolina
| party         = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| spouse        =
| relations     =
| children      = [[George M. Pritchard]]
| education     = 
| occupation    = Attorney
| signature     = Signature of Jeter Connelly Pritchard.png
}}
'''Jeter Connelly Pritchard''' (July 12, 1857 – April 10, 1921) was a lawyer, newspaperman, United States Senator and a [[United States federal judge|United States circuit judge]] of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit]] and of the [[United States circuit court|United States Circuit Courts for the Fourth Circuit]] and previously was an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the District of Columbia]]. Earlier in his political career he served in the [[North Carolina House of Representatives]]. He was a Republican who was part of the populist fusion political wave before later opposing civil rights for African Americans.

==Early life and education==

Born on July 12, 1857, in [[Jonesboro, Tennessee|Jonesboro]], Washington County, Tennessee,<ref name="auto">{{FJC Bio|1941|nid=1386606|name=Jeter Connelly Pritchard<!--(1857–1921)-->}}</ref> He attended the Martins Creek Academy in Tennessee.{{when|date=December 2023}}<ref name="auto1"/>

==Career==

Pritchard was apprenticed to the printer's trade, then moved to [[Bakersville, North Carolina|Bakersville]], Mitchell County, North Carolina, in 1873.<ref name="auto1">{{Biographical Directory of Congress|P000545|Jeter Connelly Pritchard|author=|noid=y|inline=y}}</ref> He became joint editor and owner of the ''Roan Mountain Republican''.<ref name="auto1"/> He was a [[United States Electoral College|Presidential Elector]] on the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] ticket in North Carolina in 1880.<ref name="auto1"/>

He [[read law]] and was admitted to the bar in 1889.<ref name="auto"/> He entered private practice in [[Marshall, North Carolina]], starting in 1889.<ref name="auto"/>

==Political career==

He was a member of the [[North Carolina House of Representatives]] from 1885 to 1889, and from 1891 to 1893.<ref name="auto"/> He was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1888 and an unsuccessful candidate for [[United States Senator]] in 1891.<ref name="auto1"/> He was President of the North Carolina Protective Tariff League in 1891.<ref name="auto1"/> He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the [[United States House of Representatives]] of the [[53rd United States Congress]] in 1892.<ref name="auto1"/>

==Congressional service==

Pritchard was elected as a Republican to the [[United States Senate]] in 1894 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of [[United States Senator]] [[Zebulon Baird Vance]].<ref name="auto1"/> He was reelected in 1897 and served from January 23, 1895, to March 3, 1903.<ref name="auto1"/> The victory of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]-[[People's Party (United States)|Populist]] alliance (or "fusion") in the 1894 legislative elections, and their subsequent domination of the [[North Carolina General Assembly]] was the key factor in Pritchard's initial election and subsequent reelection.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=273816|title=Our Campaigns - NC US Senate - Special Election Race - Jan 23, 1895|website=www.ourcampaigns.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=273407|title=Our Campaigns - NC US Senate Race - Jan 20, 1897|website=www.ourcampaigns.com}}</ref> He was Chairman of the Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment for the [[54th United States Congress|54th]] and [[55th United States Congress]]es and Chairman of the Committee on Patents for the [[56th United States Congress|56th]] and [[57th United States Congress]]es.<ref name="auto1"/>

On October 21, 1898, Pritchard sent a letter to President [[William McKinley]], requesting federal marshals to protect black voters in the upcoming election. He warned that Democrats were stockpiling weapons and threatening black voters, and said that Democrats' claims of "Negro domination" were without basis. The letter was discussed by McKinley and his cabinet on October 24, but federal marshals were not sent as Governor [[Daniel Lindsay Russell]] had not made the request. As a result, intimidation by [[Red Shirts (United States)|Red Shirts]] kept black voters away from the polls, resulting in a sweeping Democratic victory. On the day following the election, the [[Wilmington insurrection of 1898]] broke out.<ref>Zucchino, pp. 132-134</ref>

Pritchard began reversing his views on civil rights in 1900, becoming a [[Lily-white movement|lily-white]] and opposing black officeholders.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/lily-white-politics|title=Lily-White Politics - Encyclopedia of North Carolina}}</ref>

==Federal judicial service==

Pritchard was nominated by President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] on November 10, 1903, to an Associate Justice seat on the [[Supreme Court of the District of Columbia]] (now the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia]]) vacated by Associate Justice [[Harry M. Clabaugh]].<ref name="auto"/> He was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on November 16, 1903, and received his commission the same day.<ref name="auto"/> His service terminated on June 1, 1904, due to his elevation to the Fourth Circuit.<ref name="auto"/> While in office Pritchard twice offered resolutions demanding that the Senate declare the [[grandfather clause]] a violation of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth]] and [[Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifteenth Amendments]], but both attempts failed.<ref>Zucchino, pp. 312</ref>

Pritchard was nominated by President Roosevelt on April 27, 1904, to a joint seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit]] and the [[United States circuit court|United States Circuit Courts for the Fourth Circuit]] vacated by Judge [[Charles Henry Simonton]].<ref name="auto"/> He was confirmed by the Senate on April 27, 1904, and received his commission the same day.<ref name="auto"/> On December 31, 1911, the Circuit Courts were abolished and he thereafter served only on the Court of Appeals.<ref name="auto"/> His service terminated on April 10, 1921, due to his death in [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]], North Carolina.<ref name="auto"/> He was interred in the [[Riverside Cemetery (Asheville, North Carolina)|Riverside Cemetery]] in Asheville,<ref name="auto1"/> near fellow North Carolina Senators [[Thomas Lanier Clingman]] and [[Zebulon Baird Vance]].<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/asheville/riv.htm | title = Riverside Cemetery | work = [[National Park Service|nps.gov]] | publisher = [[National Register of Historic Places]] | access-date = 2008-02-25}}</ref>

==Family==
[[File:Mrs Jeter Connelly Pritchard.jpg|thumb|right|Mrs. Jeter Connelly Pritchard]]
Senator Pritchard married Augusta L. Ray in 1877 and they became the parents of three sons and a daughter—William D. (an army officer killed in the Philippines in 1904), [[George M. Pritchard]] (a politician in the Republican Party),<ref name="auto1"/> Thomas A., and Ida (Mrs. Thomas S. Rollins). Following the death in 1886 of his wife, Pritchard married Melissa Bowman by whom he had another son, J. McKinley. After the death of his second wife in 1902, Judge Pritchard married Lillian E. Saum in 1903.

==Honor==

Pritchard Park in downtown Asheville is named in Pritchard's memory.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Calder |first=Thomas |date=November 14, 2017 |title=Asheville Archives: Pritchard Park replaces the old post office |url=https://mountainx.com/news/asheville-archives-pritchard-park-replaces-the-old-post-office/}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{FJC Bio|1941|nid=1386606|name=Jeter Connelly Pritchard<!--(1857–1921)-->}}
* {{Biographical Directory of Congress|P000545|Jeter Connelly Pritchard|author=|noid=y|inline=y}}
* {{cite book|last1=Zucchino|first1=David|title=Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy|date=2020|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|isbn=9780802128386}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081121012431/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/bios/pritchard.html North Carolina Election of 1898]
* [http://docsouth.unc.edu/wwi/pritchard/bio.html Documenting the American South: Jeter Connelly Pritchard, 1857-1921]

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{{USSenNC}}
{{SenPOCSCommitteeChairmen}}
{{United States presidential election, 1920}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Jeter C.}}
[[Category:1857 births]]
[[Category:1921 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Riverside Cemetery (Asheville, North Carolina)]]
[[Category:People from Jonesborough, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia]]
[[Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit]]
[[Category:United States district court judges appointed by Theodore Roosevelt]]
[[Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by Theodore Roosevelt]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1920 United States presidential election]]
[[Category:Republican Party United States senators from North Carolina]]
[[Category:United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly]]