Lt. Gov. Edward Echols

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Echols_Edward_1849-1914

Edward Echols served a term as lieutenant governor (1892–1902) and represented the Staunton area in the General Assembly (1883–1897, 1906–1914). The son and nephew of members of the Convention of 1861, Echols entered the House of Delegates as the Democratic Party's nearly century-long hegemony over Virginia politics began. As lieutenant governor he presided over the Senate of Virginia when the General Assembly passed legislation calling for a referendum on a new state constitutional convention that ultimately slashed the voting rights of African Americans. Elected to the Senate of Virginia after his term, he helped forge a compromise that allowed the 1914 referendum that brought statewide Prohibition to the state.

Echols was born on September 2, 1849, in Union, Monroe County, and was the son of John Echols, an attorney, and his first wife, Mary Jane Caperton Echols. His father and his maternal uncle, Allen Taylor Caperton, both served in the Convention of 1861. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), the Echols family moved to Staunton. Echols attended Washington College (later Washington and Lee University) from 1866 to 1869 and the University of Virginia, where he studied constitutional and international law, from 1871 to 1872. He practiced law in Staunton and on June 5, 1895, married Margaret Joynes Young, a Petersburg native then living in Louisville, Kentucky. They had one son and one daughter.

Echols began a long career of public service with his election in 1880 to the first of three consecutive two-year terms as commonwealth's attorney for Staunton. He twice sat on the Democratic State Central Committee, from 1883 to 1896 and then from 1900 to 1914. In 1883 Echols won election to a two-year term representing Staunton and Augusta County in the House of Delegates. Reelected twice, he chaired the Committee for Asylums and Prisons, important to his constituents because of Staunton's Western Lunatic Asylum (later Western State Hospital). He served as well on the Committees on Counties, Cities, and Towns, for Courts of Justice, for Labor and Poor, and for Public Property. Echols developed a reputation as an eloquent and persuasive debater, despite a reserved and serious personality.

Echols's success in the House led to his election in 1889 to a four-year term in the Senate of Virginia representing Augusta County. Reelected from Augusta and Staunton in 1893, he chaired the Committee to Examine the Bonds of Public Officers during both terms and the Committee on Roads and Internal Navigation during the 1895–1896 session. He also sat on the Committees on General Laws and on Public Institutions and Education.

Echols generally supported the Democratic organization led by U.S. Senator Thomas Staples Martin. At the state convention in August 1897 Echols secured the Democratic Party's nomination as lieutenant governor after an attempt by some Southside Democrats to produce a fusion ticket with the People's Party of Virginia (also known as the Populists) failed. In the statewide election on November 2, he garnered 65 percent of the vote to defeat five other candidates for the office. During his term presiding over the state senate, the General Assembly approved holding a referendum on calling a convention to revise the state constitution and then in special session determined the makeup of the convention. At the close of his term, Echols considered running for governor but withdrew from the four-candidate field at the end of June 1901, well before the Democratic State Convention met in August.

In 1906 Echols began the first of three consecutive four-year terms in the Senate of Virginia, representing Staunton and the counties of Augusta and Highland. He sat on the Committees on Finance (which he chaired in 1912 and 1914), on Nominations (which he chaired in 1910), on Public Institutions and Education, on Roads and Internal Navigation, to Examine Bonds of Public Officers, and to Examine the Treasurer's Office. Echols also chaired a joint committee on tax revision in 1914. At the beginning of the 1908 session he won unanimous election as president pro tempore of the Senate and was reelected for each subsequent assembly session until his death. In 1910 and 1912 Echols voted against holding a statewide referendum on the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, but in 1914 he served on a four-member conference committee that reconciled the House and Senate versions of enabling legislation authorizing such a referendum. He voted in favor of the resulting compromise report, which the Senate passed after the lieutenant governor cast a tie-breaking vote. The September referendum brought statewide Prohibition to Virginia in 1916.

Echols served as third vice president of the Basic City Mining, Manufacturing and Land Company when it was incorporated in 1890 and as president of the National Valley Bank at Staunton from 1905 until 1914. He sat on the boards of visitors of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, in Staunton, and the Virginia Military Institute (1908–1914). An avid hunter, he was also president of the Staunton Horse Show Association in 1904.

Echols died on December 19, 1914, at his Staunton home from Bright's disease, a kidney ailment. He was buried in the city's Thornrose Cemetery.

Time Line

September 2, 1849 - Edward Echols is born in Union, Monroe County, the son of John Echols, an attorney, and his first wife, Mary Jane Capertons Echols.

After 1865 - Edward Echols moves to Staunton with his family.

1866–1869 - Edward Echols attends Washington College (later Washington and Lee University).

1871–1872 - Edward Echols attends the University of Virginia, where he studies constitutional and international law.

1880 - Edward Echols is elected to the first of three consecutive two-year terms as commonwealth's attorney for Staunton.

1883–1896 - Edward Echols sits on the Democratic State Central Committee.

1883 - Edward Echols wins election to a two-year term representing Staunton and Augusta County in the House of Delegates. He will be reelected for two more terms.

1883–1889 - Edward Echols represents Staunton and Augusta counties in the House of Delegates, where at different times he chairs the Committee for Asylums and Prisons, and serves on the Committees on Counties, Cities and Towns, for Courts of Justice, for Labor and Poor, and for the Public Property.

1889 - Edward Echols is elected to the first of two four-year terms in the Senate of Virginia representing Augusta County.

1889–1897 - Edward Echols represents Augusta County in the Senate of Virginia for two terms.

1890 - Edward Echols serves as vice president of the Basic City Mining, Manufacturing, and Land Company.

June 5, 1895 - Edward Echols marries Margaret Joynes Young. They will have one son and one daughter.

July 1897 - The Virginia People's Party nominates Edmund R. Cocke for lieutenant governor. Fielding no other candidates for statewide office, party officials urge the Democrats to give him the second spot on their ticket, but the Democrats nominate Edward Echols instead.

November 2, 1897 - In a statewide election, Edward Echols garners 65 percent of the vote to defeat five other candidates for the office of lieutenant governor.

1900–1914 - Edward Echols sits on the Democratic State Central Committee.

June 1901 - Edward Echols withdraws from the race for governor, well before the Democratic State Convention meets in August.

1904 - Edward Echols serves as president of the Staunton Horse Show Association.

1905–1914 - Edward Echols serves as president of the National Valley Bank at Staunton.

1906 - Edward Echols begins the first of three consecutive four-year terms in the Senate of Virginia, representing Staunton and the Counties of August and Highland.

1906–1914 - Edward Echols represents Staunton, and Augusta and Highland counties in the Senate of Virginia.

1908–1914 - Edward Echols sits on the boards of visitors of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, in Staunton and the Virginia Military Institute.

1908 - Edward Echols wins unanimous election as president pro tempore of the Senate of Virginia and will be reelected for each subsequent assembly session until his death.

1910 - Edward Echols votes in the Senate of Virginia against holding a statewide referendum on the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

1912 - Edward Echols, for the second time, votes in the Senate of Virginia against holding a statewide referendum on the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

1914 - Edward Echols serves on a four-member conference committee in the Senate of Virginia that reconciles the House and Senate versions of enabling legislation authorizing a referendum on the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

December 19, 1914 - Edward Echols dies at his Staunton home from Bright's disease, a kidney ailment. He is buried in the city's Thornrose Cemetery.

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Edward Echols (September 2, 1849 – December 19, 1914) was a U.S. political figure from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Echols held office as the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 1898 to 1902.

Edward Echols was born in Monroe County (now in West Virginia). There is some confusion over his birth year, but he is listed in the 1850 census as being one year old in September 1850. He and his family moved to Staunton, Virginia, after the Civil War. He also served for six years in the Virginia House of Delegates and for a total of twelve years in the Senate of Virginia. His father, John Echols, was a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Echols