{{short description|American politician}} {{for|the American librarian|James Theodore Richmond}} {{Infobox officeholder |name=James Buchanan Richmond |image=JBRichmond.jpg |image_size=200px |state1=[[Virginia]] |district1=[[Virginia's 9th congressional district|9th]] |party=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] |term1=March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881 |preceded1=[[Auburn Pridemore]] |succeeded1=[[Abram Fulkerson]] |state_delegate2 = Virginia |district2 = [[Lee County, Virginia]] |term_start2 = January 1, 1874 |term_end2 = December 3, 1875 |preceded2 =[[William P. Queen]] |succeeded2 = [[Ira P. Robinette]] |birth_date={{birth date|1842|2|27|mf=y}} |birth_place=[[Seminary, Virginia|Turkey Cove, Virginia]], U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|1910|4|30|1842|2|27|mf=y}} |death_place=[[Baltimore, Maryland]], U.S. |spouse= Lizzie Duncan,<br>Kate Morison |profession=[[Politician]], [[Lawyer]], [[Judge]], [[Banker]] |footnotes= |allegiance= Virginia <br/> Confederate States of America |rank= [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] (CSA) |branch= [[Virginia Army National Guard|Virginia Militia]]<br>Confederate States Army |commands= [[64th Virginia Infantry]] |unit=[[15th Virginia Infantry]]<br>[[64th Virginia Mounted Infantry]] |battles=[[American Civil War]] |awards= }}
'''James Buchanan Richmond''' (February 27, 1842 – April 30, 1910) was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer, judge and banker from [[Virginia]].<ref>{{CongBio|R000234}}</ref>
==Early and family life== Born in [[Seminary, Virginia|Turkey Cove, Virginia]], on February 27, 1842, to Jonathan Richmond and his wife Mary Dickenson Richmond, James Richmond had many brothers and sisters. He attended [[Emory and Henry College]], then read law.
He married Sarah Elizabeth (Lizzie) Duncan in 1864 and had a son (Henry C. L. Richmond) and daughter (Mary Elizabeth Richmond Cox Deisher) before her death. The year following Lizzie's death, Richmond married Catherine (Kate) Morison (1844–1911) of [[Scott County, Virginia|Scott County]]. His son, Henry C. L. Richmond, like his father became a lawyer and later married the daughter of Richmond's fellow 64th Virginia officer, Harvey Gray.<ref>Lewis Preston Summers, History of Southwest Virginia (1903)</ref>
==Career== Richmond began his legal practice in the [[Circuit court|circuit]] and county court of [[Lee County, Virginia|Lee County]] and neighboring [[Scott County, Virginia|Scott]] and [[Wise County, Virginia|Wise Counties]] as well as in the [[Court of Appeals|court of appeals]] in [[Wytheville, Virginia]].
==Confederate service== As the [[American Civil War]] began, Richmond enlisted in the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]], as did his elder brothers William, Jonathan and Henry (although Jonathan died of typhus in August 1861). James Richmond initially served as an orderly [[Sergeant#United States|sergeant]] and was promoted to [[Captain (United States)|captain]] of Company A of the [[15th Virginia Infantry]]. When that was consolidated with the [[64th Virginia Mounted Infantry]] in late 1863 (where his brother William was a Captain), James Richmond received a promotion to [[Major (United States)|major]] and later another promotion to [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]]. He served under Col. [[Auburn Pridemore]] (whom he later defeated to represent the [[Virginia's 9th congressional district|same Congressional district]]).
==Political career==
After Virginia surrendered and James Richmond and his brothers received pardons, he resumed his legal practice. Lee County voters elected him to represent them (part time) in the [[Virginia House of Delegates]] in 1873 and he served from 1874 until 1875. Richmond succeeded [[William P. Queen]] and was succeeded by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Ira Robinette]].
In 1878, advocating sound money, Richmond defeated Congressman Pridemore in the primary, and was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the [[United States House of Representatives]]. He served a single term, from 1879 to 1881, losing in the Democratic primary to fellow Confederate veteran [[Abram Fulkerson]], who helped organize the [[Readjuster Party]] but retired after one term.
In 1886, the Virginia General Assembly elected Richmond judge for [[Scott County, Virginia]]. He served for six years, from 1886 to 1892. He then became chief counsel of the [[South Atlantic & Ohio Railroad Company]] for several years, and also engaged in banking. Richmond also represented Scott County at the [[Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1902]], which disenfranchised black and poor white voters, but attempted to modernize treatment of corporations.
==Death and legacy== Richmond died at Johns Hopkins hospital in [[Baltimore, Maryland]], on April 30, 1910.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://genealogytrails.com/vir/scott/obituaries.html|title = Obituaries and Death Notices in Scott County, VA}}</ref> His son Henry C. L. Richmond, who also attended Emory and Henry College before becoming a lawyer, served as Commonwealth Attorney of Scott County 1891–1895, and again 1919–1920, resigning when elected mayor of Gate City in 1920. He was a Republican like [[Campbell Slemp]] and his son [[C. Bascom Slemp]], who were both born less than a mile from James B. Richmond and represented the 9th Congressional district in the early 20th century. A Virginia highway marker near [[Seminary, Virginia]] recognized all three Congressmen born nearby.<ref>A Guidebook to Virginia's Historical Markers (University of Virginia Press 1994), p. 198</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=9 | before=[[Auburn Pridemore]] | after= [[Abram Fulkerson]] | years=March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1881 }} {{s-end}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives09}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, James}} [[Category:1842 births]] [[Category:1910 deaths]] [[Category:Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates]] [[Category:Virginia lawyers]] [[Category:Emory & Henry University alumni]] [[Category:Confederate States Army officers]] [[Category:People of Virginia in the American Civil War]] [[Category:Delegates to Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Virginia]] [[Category:People from Lee County, Virginia]] [[Category:19th-century Virginia state court judges]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly]] [[Category:20th-century Virginia politicians]]