Rufus Ezekiel Lester
Rufus Ezekiel Lester taken by C. M. Bell Studios
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 1st district
In office
March 4, 1889 – June 16, 1906
Preceded byThomas M. Norwood
Succeeded byJames W. Overstreet
40th Mayor of Savannah, Georgia
In office
1883–1889
Preceded byJohn Wheaton
Succeeded byJohn Schwarz
Personal details
Born(1837-12-12)December 12, 1837
Near Waynesboro, Georgia, U.S.
DiedJune 16, 1906(1906-06-16) (aged 68)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Cause of deathFalling through skylight
Resting placeBonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationMercer University
OccupationAttorney

Rufus Ezekiel Lester (December 12, 1837 – June 16, 1906) was a U.S. Representative from Georgia.[1][2]

Born near Waynesboro, Georgia, Lester graduated from Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, in 1857. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in Savannah, Georgia, and commenced practice in 1859. He entered the military service of the Confederate States Army in 1861 and served throughout the Civil War. He resumed the practice of law in Savannah. He served as member of the Georgia State Senate in 1870–1879 and served as president of that body during the last three years. He served as mayor of Savannah from 1883 to 1889. He was also a slave owner.[3][4]

Lester was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first and to the eight succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1889, until his death in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 1906. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses).

Death

He died after an accident in which he fell through a skylight on the roof of The Cairo, the Washington, D.C. apartment building where he resided.[5] Lester went to the roof to look for his two young grandchildren and apparently missed his footing, fell about 30 feet through the skylight, and landed on the building's eleventh floor.[5] He broke both legs and sustained internal injuries which proved fatal.[6]

Headstone at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah

He was interred at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.[7]

Frontispiece of 1907's Rufus Ezekiel Lester, Late a Representative.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bioguide Search". bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  2. ↑ "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. 9 November 1903. p. 15. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  3. ↑ Weil, Julie Zauzmer; Blanco, Adrian; Dominguez, Leo. "More than 1,700 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation". Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  4. ↑ "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, 2022-01-27, retrieved 2022-01-29
  5. 1 2 "Lester Injured, May Die". The New York Times. New York, NY. June 16, 1906. p. 1 – via TimesMachine.
  6. ↑ "Fell through a skylight" (PDF). The Home Daily Sentinel. June 16, 1906. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Lester's Funeral in Savannah". The Valdosta Times. Valdosta, GA. June 23, 1906. p. 2 – via Georgia Historic Newspapers.

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