John E. Colhoun

John Ewing Colhoun
United States Senator from South Carolina
In office March 4, 1801 – October 26, 1802
Preceded by	Jacob Read
Succeeded by	Pierce Butler
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives
In office 1778–1800
Personal details
Born	1749 Staunton, Virginia
Died	October 26, 1802 (aged 52–53) Pendleton, South Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse	Floride Bonneau Colhoun
Alma mater	Princeton University
Occupation	Planter, Legislator
Profession	Lawyer

John Ewing Colhoun (1749 – October 26, 1802) was a United States Senator and lawyer from South Carolina.

Colhoun, was born in Staunton, Virginia where he attended common schools before graduating from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). He was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1778 to 1800. He studied to be a lawyer and was admitted to the bar, where he commenced practice in Charleston, South Carolina. By profession he was a lawyer but through trade he was a planter, as he owned a vast amount of plantations throughout the state of South Carolina.

Origin and family

Colhoun (and Calhoun) is a surname that originated in Ulster to where Colhoun's great, great, great, grandfather Robert Colquhoun migrated from Dunbarton, Dumbartonshire in Scotland. Colhoun was born to Ulster-Scottish immigrants to colonial America from County Donegal. Colhoun appears to have himself changed his surname from Calhoun to Colhoun. It has been stated that, the head of the Colquhoun clan engaged in a correspondence with him, in which the Highlander endeavored to persuade the American to restore the spelling of the name of the ancestral clan.

Colhoun married Floride Bonneau a member of a prominent Charleston, South Carolina Huguenot family. They had three children, John Ewing, Jr., who became a planter, James Edward (1798-1889 later changed last name to Calhoun), who would become an officer in the U.S. Navy in the 1820s and, too, was a planter, and Floride Bonneau (1792–1866) who married her father's first cousin John Caldwell Calhoun. Floride became Second Lady of the United States in 1825. John Colhoun was also a first cousin of Joseph Calhoun, and brother-in-law of Andrew Pickens.

Background

In 1774, Colhoun graduated from the College of New Jersey (later to become Princeton University). On 16 August, 1775, he joined Capt. Charles Drayton's company of volunteer militia for service in the Revolution at its organization in Charleston, South Carolina. After the war, in 1783, he studied law and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Charleston, South Carolina, working mostly in estate settlements and personal injury suits. In 1785, he was elected a member of the privy council and also a commissioner of confiscated estates. Colhoun, was a planter by-trade, who later acquired several plantations across the state of South Carolina, including his Santee Plantation in St. Stephen's Parish, his Keowee and 12 Mile Plantations in the Old Pendleton District, and his Pimlico and Bonneau's Ferry Plantations in St. John's Parish. Another plantation he owned, the location of which is unclear, was called Mount Prospect. Colhoun grew mostly indigo, rice, oats, and vegetables on his plantations, as well as raising cattle, and breeding horses.

His Keowee Plantation is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and it is within the Old Pendleton Historic District of Pendleton, South Carolina, also listed on the NRHP.

Senator

In 1801, after 22 years of being a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Colhoun defeated Jacob Read, incumbent, by a vote of 75 to 73, sealing his victory and being elected a member of the United States Senate from the state of South Carolina and was a member of the committee which was instructed to report a modification of the judiciary system of the United States. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the 7th United States Congress as a senator, serving from March 4, 1801 until his death on October 26, 1802 in Pendleton, South Carolina.

Death and Burial

A highly respected individual, a letter from John C. Calhoun to Andrew Pickens, Jr. on the 21st of January, 1803 reflected the following insights into the integrity of a great statesman.

Let me now turn from these things to one of a more serious nature,I mean the death of our honoured relation John E. Colhoun. By his death our country has lost one of its most sincere friends; and our family one of its brightest ornaments. Mr. Colhoun by his spirited behaviour in the last congress gained himself much honour in N. England. Indeed the general tenour of his actions, al(t)hough not exhibited upon so elevated a stage as congress, yet have been such as to claim the gratitude of his country. It is probable, dear Andrew, that we shall follow the same presuits of life that he did,let us therefore be ambitious to emulate his virtues and knowledge..

He died at the age of 52/53, on 26 October, 1802, in Pendleton, South Carolina. He was interred in the family cemetery in the Old Pendleton District.

External links

• United States Congress. "John E. Colhoun (id: C000627)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• John Ewing Colhoun papers