James
Israel Standifer
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Biographical
Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1791, p. 1742;
Research records of Charles B. Standefer and Sequatchie Families by James L. Douthat
James Standifer was a captain in the War of 1812. From 1815-1821 he served as the state senator to the capital at Murfreesboro from the district of Anderson, Bledsoe, Roane, and Rhea Counties; in 1819 the counties of Morgan and Marion became a part of this district, and in 1821 Hamilton county was added to the list.
James Standefer was elected to the House of Representatives for the Eighteenth Congress of the United States and served from March 4, 1823 to March 3, 1825. He was subsequently elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first through Twenty-third Congresses, as a White supporter to the Twenty-fourth Congress, and as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth Congress. He served with such notable Tennesseans as David Crockett, Sam Houston, James K. Polk, Andrew Jackson, and Felix Grundy and other famous historical figures such as as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun were among his contemporaries. During his tenure in Washington, he witnessed the presentation of the anti- interventionist Monroe Doctrine (1823), the destruction of the second National Bank of the United States (1832) and the debate over the issue of Nullification (1832) to the federal tariff on imports within South Carolina and the rest of the agricultural South.
During this period, James Standefer was involved in two other notable activities within Bledsoe County. First, he was authorized by the state of Tennessee in 1826 to sit on a committee of eight to establish a private academy at Pikeville; the result was the Lafayette Academy, named for the French patriot of the American Revolution. In addition, he was one of 46 charter members of the local Masons' organization, the Vale Temple Lodge, from its inception on October 8, 1823.
James Standefer served in the U.S. Congress continuously from March 4, 1829 until his death near Kingston, Tennessee, on August 20, 1837, from pneumonia, while on his way to Washington. He is buried at the Baptist Cemetery at Kingston, Tennessee.
New! From the Biographical Directory of the Tennessee
General Assembly, Vol I, 1796-1861, Nashville, 1975. p. 692: *contributed by Jim Standifer.
Standifer, James (1776-1837)
SENATE, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th General Assemblies, 1815-1823; representing Bledsoe,
Anderson, Rhea, and Roane counties in 11th and 12th assemblies; those counties plus Marion
and Morgan in 13th assemblies; those counties plus Marion and Morgan in 13th assembly; and
all those counties plus Hamilton and McMinn in 14th assembly; party lines not drawn at the
time; later a Whig. Born in Virginia, exact place unknown, on April 19, 1776, son of
William Standifer. Extent of schooling not indicated; said to have been well
educated for his day. Married to Patsy Standifer, date and place of marriage and
names of her parents unknown. Children--William, Isaac, Luke, James Madison, Jesse
E., Skelton Carroll, and Eliza Ann Standifer. Standifer with his wife and oldest
child settled in the Sequatchie Valley, near Mt. Airy, about 1805. Farmer and
surveyor; business interest in Vicksburg, Mississippi and in New Orleans. In War of
1812; captain, September 30, 1813 -- December 30, 1813; reenlisted January 20, 1814; March
11, 1814, promoted to lieutenant colonel; served under Colonel John Brown in East
Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Gunman. Member of the first county court of Bledsoe
County; selected site of courthouse. Elected to the 18th Congress (1823-25); elected
to the 21st Congress and four succeeding Congresses and served from March 24, 1829, until
his death. Died at Kingston, Roane County, on August 20, 1837, while on his way to
Washington, D. C.; buried in Baptist Cemetery, Kingston. Father of William I.
Standifer, sometime member Tennessee General Assembly.
[Sources: Nashville Daily Republican Banner, August 24, 1837; Pikeville Bledsonian, October 17, 24, 1957; Burns and McCown, Soldiers of the War of 1812 Buried in Tennessee, 106; Ogle, Compendium of Biography, p. 462; Moore, Tennessee, The Volunteer State, II, pp. 355-56; Biographical Directory of the American Congress; War of 1812 Records in Tennessee State Library and Archives; information supplied by descendant, Miss Sarah L. Scarborough, 108 E. Manning Street, Chattanooga.]
Note: Correction to this article. James Standifer was born in 1779 in Henry County, VA.
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