{{Short description|American lawyer and politician (1841-1915)}} {{Infobox officeholder | birth_date = {{birth date|1841|8|30}} | birth_place = Ofahoma, Mississippi, U. S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1915|5|16|1841|8|30}} | death_place = Jackson, Mississippi, U. S. | state_senate = Mississippi State | district = 17th | term_start = January 1904 | term_end = January 1908 | term_start1 = January 1888 | term_end1 = January 1892 | state_house2 = Mississippi | district2 = Leake County | term_start2 = January 1900 | term_end2 = January 1904 | term_start3 = January 1886 | term_end3 = January 1888 | party = Democratic | children = 11 | relations = Greenwood Leflore (great-uncle)<br>Ferr Smith (great-grandson) }}
'''Presley Groves''' (August 30, 1841 - May 16, 1915) was an American lawyer and politician. He served in both houses of the Mississippi Legislature between 1886 and 1908.
== Early life == Presley Groves was born on August 30, 1841, in Ofahoma, Mississippi.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Official_and_Statistical_Register_of_the/sZsKAQAAMAAJ |title=Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi |date=1904 |pages=484, 497 |language=en}}</ref> He was the son of Iredel C. Groves, of Scotch-Irish descent, and Sarah (Leflore) Groves, the daughter of Benjamin Leflore and niece of Choctaw chief Greenwood Leflore, who negotiated the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1886-01-14 |title=MS House 1886 Biographies Lafayette onwards |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-state-ledger-ms-house-1886-biographi/159362403/ |access-date=2025-12-19 |work=The State Ledger |pages=3}}</ref> Presley attended the public schools of Leake County and attended the University of Mississippi, studying law and getting admitted to the bar upon graduation.<ref name=":0" /> Groves served under A. P. Hill in the Confederate Army in the Civil War.<ref name=":0" /> He was wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor.<ref name=":0" /> During early Reconstruction, he served as a Captain of horsemen under governor William Sharkey.<ref name=":1" />
== Political career == Groves served as a justice of the peace for four years in the early 1880s.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He was elected to represent Leake County in the Mississippi House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1886.<ref name=":1" /> In 1887, he was elected to represent the 17th District in the Mississippi State Senate for the 1888–1892 term.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1888 Senate · Mississippi State University Libraries |url=https://msstate-exhibits.libraryhost.com/items/show/1097 |access-date=2025-12-19 |website=msstate-exhibits.libraryhost.com}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In 1899, Groves was once again elected to the House for the 1900-1904 term.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mississippi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WE3AQAAMAAJ |title=Department Reports |date=1900 |pages=55 |language=en}}</ref> On November 3, 1903, Groves was elected to represent the Senate's 17th District for the 1904–1908 term.<ref name=":0" /> During that term, Groves served on the following committees: Finance; Agriculture; Commerce and Manufactures; Public Works; Claims; Unfinished Business; Public Lands; and Pensions.<ref name=":0" /> Groves died on May 16, 1915, in Jackson, Mississippi.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-05-21 |title=Pressly Groves Dead |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-herald-pressly-groves-dead/159756977/ |access-date=2025-12-19 |work=The Star-Herald |pages=10}}</ref>
== Personal life == Groves married Marie Josephine Charles in March 1861.<ref name=":0" /> They had seven children: Louis, Mignon, Mamie, Laura, Alpha, Myrtle, and I. C.<ref name=":0" /> Groves also had four children by a black mistress surnamed Smith, acknowledged by the family.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=1993-04-08 |title=Classic tale of 'Old South come full circle' related |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-enterprise-tocsin-classic-tale-of-o/159756828/ |access-date=2025-12-19 |work=The Enterprise-Tocsin |pages=4}}</ref> His great-grandson from that side, Ferr Smith, later also served in the Mississippi House of Representatives.<ref name=":2" />
== References == <references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groves, Presley}} Category:1841 births Category:1915 deaths Category:American people of Choctaw descent Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Democratic Party Mississippi state senators Category:Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Category:People from Leake County, Mississippi Category:19th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature Category:20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature