Emory Speer

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Emory Speer (September 3, 1848 - December 13, 1918) was an American politician, soldier and lawyer.

Speer was born in Culloden, Georgia and joined Confederate Army during the Civil War at the age of sixteen serving in the Fifth Kentucky Regiment, Lewis brigade.

After the war, Speer attended the University of Georgia in Athens where his father, Dr. Eustace W. Speer, had once been a faculty member. The younger Speer was a member of the Demosthenian Literary Society and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1869. He gained admittance to the state bar that same year and became a practicing lawyer in Athens.

From 1873 until 1876, Speer was the solicitor general of Georgia. His first campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1876 was unsuccessful; however, he won election to the House in 1878 and again in 1880 before losing his re-election bid in 1882.

After his congressional service, Speer became the United States attorney for the northern district of Georgia from 1883 until 1885. He next served as the district judge of the southern Federal judicial district of Georgia from 1885 until 1918. During his district judgeship, Speer also served as the Dean of Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, Georgia from 1893 until his death in 1918 in that same city. Speer was also buried in Riverside Cemetery in Macon.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• History of the University of Georgia, Thomas Walter Reed, Imprint: Athens, Georgia : University of Georgia, ca. 1949 pp.878-882

Preceded by: Hiram P. Bell

U.S. Representative of Georgia's 9th Congressional District 1879–1883

Succeeded by: Allen D. Candler