{{short description|American politician (1861–1912)}} {{redirect|Senator Terrell}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Joseph M. Terrell |image = JosephMTerrell.jpg |caption = Terrell in 1911 |jr/sr1 = United States Senator |state1 = [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] |term_start1 = November 17, 1910 |term_end1 = July 14, 1911 |appointer1 = [[Joseph Mackey Brown]] |predecessor1 = [[Alexander S. Clay]] |successor1 = [[M. Hoke Smith]] |order2 = 57th |office2 = Governor of Georgia |term_start2 = October 25, 1902 |term_end2 = June 29, 1907 |predecessor2 = [[Allen D. Candler]] |successor2 = [[M. Hoke Smith|Hoke Smith]] |office3 = 37th [[Attorney General of Georgia]] |governor3 = [[William J. Northen]] <br />[[William Yates Atkinson]] <br />[[Allen D. Candler]] |term_start3 = 1892 |term_end3 = 1902 |predecessor3 = W.A. Little |successor3 = Boykin Wright |office4 = Member of the [[Georgia Senate]] |term4 = 1890–1892 |office5 = Member of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] |term5 = 1884–1887 |birth_name = Joseph Meriwether Terrell |birth_date = {{birth date|1861|6|6}} |birth_place = [[Greenville, Georgia|Greenville]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], C.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|1912|11|17|1861|6|6}} |death_place = [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], U.S. |party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] |signature = Signature of Joseph Meriwether Terrell.png |spouse = {{marriage|Jessie Lee Spivey|1886}} }}

'''Joseph Meriwether Terrell''' (June 6, 1861{{spaced ndash}}November 17, 1912) was a [[United States Senate|United States senator]] and the [[List of governors of Georgia|57th governor]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].

==Background== Born in [[Greenville, Georgia|Greenville]], he was the son of Sarah Rebecca (née Anthony) and Dr. Joel Edgar Green Terrell.<ref name='Dicken'>{{cite book |last=Dicken |first=Emma |title=Terrell Genealogy |location=San Antonio, Texas |publisher=The Naylor Company |pages= 159–160|quote=He was a member of the Georgia Legislature 1884- 1890; Attorney General of Georgia 1892-1902; governor of Georgia 1902-1907; a U. S. Senator in the 61st Congress.}}</ref> He attended the common schools, studied law, and was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] in 1882, commencing practice in Greenville.

On October 19, 1886, he married Jessie Lee Spivey. They had no children.<ref name='Dicken'/>

Terrell was a self-declared "uncompromising friend of common school education."<ref name="georgiaencyclopedia.org">{{Cite web |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2139 |title=Joseph M. Terrell (1861–1912) |website=[[New Georgia Encyclopedia]] |access-date=2020-06-12}}</ref>

Terrell was of [[English American|English]] ancestry and of partial Norman descent.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVETAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA40 |title=Further Genealogical Notes on the Tyrrell-Terrell Family of Virginia and Its English and Norman-French Progenitors |first=Edwin Holland |last=Terrell |location=San Antonio, Texas |page=40 |year=1909 |isbn=9781789875539 |access-date=2020-06-12 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Career== Terrell was a member of the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] from 1884 to 1887, and a member of the [[Georgia Senate]] in 1890. He served as state [[attorney general]] from 1892 to 1902, and [[Governor of Georgia]] from 1902 to 1907, marred by the [[Atlanta race riot]] of 1906.<ref>{{cite web|title=Georgia National Guard correspondence regarding the Atlanta Race Riot|url=http://cdm.georgiaarchives.org:2011/cdm/compoundobject/collection/adhoc/id/1174|website=Incoming Correspondence, Adjutant General, Defense, RG 22-1-17, Georgia Archives|publisher=Digital Library of Georgia|access-date=19 June 2016}}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He resumed the practice of law in [[Atlanta]], and was appointed to the U.S. Senate as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to fill the vacancy caused by the death of [[Alexander S. Clay]], serving from November 17, 1910, to July 14, 1911, when he resigned. Terrell suffered a stroke in February 1911.<ref name=Sun>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53317364/joseph-m-terrell/ |title=Joseph M. Terrell |newspaper=[[The Sun (New York City)|The Sun]] |location=Atlanta |page=9 |date=1912-11-18 |access-date=2020-06-12 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

==Death and legacy== He again resumed the practice of law in Atlanta although in poor health and died there from [[Bright's Disease]] on November 17, 1912. He was survived by his wife.<ref name="georgiaencyclopedia.org"/><ref name=Sun/>

Interment was in the City Cemetery, Greenville.

The [[Liberty ship]] ''Joseph M. Terrell'' was named for him.<ref>{{cite web|title=Photograph of the Liberty ship Joseph M. Terrell at the docks of J.A. Jones Construction Company shipyard, Brunswick, Georgia, 1944|url=http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/vsbg/id:jaj074|website=Vanishing Georgia|publisher=Digital Library of Georgia|access-date=19 June 2016|archive-date=December 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216210146/http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/vsbg/id:jaj074|url-status=dead}}</ref> Terrell Hall, on the campus of Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, was also named for him.<ref>{{cite web|title=Terrell Hall (Milledgeville, Ga.)|url=http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/larc/id:jlc0325|website=Vanishing Georgia|publisher=Digital Library of Georgia|access-date=19 June 2016}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons}} {{CongBio|T000131}} * {{Find a Grave|7827689}}

{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=[[Allen D. Candler]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[List of governors of Georgia|Governor of Georgia]]|years=1902, 1904}} {{s-aft|after=[[M. Hoke Smith]]}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |before=[[Allen D. Candler]] |title=[[Governor of Georgia]] |years=1902&ndash;1907 |after=[[M. Hoke Smith|Hoke Smith]] }} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{succession box |before=[[Alexander S. Clay]] |title=[[Georgia's congressional delegations|U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Georgia]] |years=1910&ndash;1911 |after=[[M. Hoke Smith|Hoke Smith]] }} {{s-end}}

{{Governors of Georgia}} {{USSenGA}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terrell, Joseph M.}} [[Category:1861 births]] [[Category:1912 deaths]] [[Category:Democratic Party governors of Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives]] [[Category:Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers]] [[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) attorneys general]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:People from Meriwether County, Georgia]] [[Category:American people of Norman descent]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:20th-century United States senators]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly]]