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Eldred Simkins

Other Name:
Eldred Simpkins
Gender:
Male
Born:
August 29, 1779
Died:
November 17, 1831
Home Town:
Edgefield District, SC
Marriage(s):
Eliza Smith Simkins (April 7, 1807)
Biographical Notes:
Eldred Simkins was the son of Arthur Simkins, one of the first settlers of the Edgefield District of South Carolina who was a member of the General Assembly of South Carolina for more than twenty years. Simkins had very delicate health and was his father's youngest and reportedly favorite son.

After attending the Law School, he returned to Edgefield to open a law office. His practice was successful from the start. Simkins and his wife had three daughters and three sons.

In 1808, he rode the Court Circuit with John C. Calhoun. Simkins was elected to the U.S. Congress as successor to John C. Calhoun who resigned to enter President Monroe's Cabinet. During his second term in Congress, Simkins gave a speech on the Missouri Compromise. Simkins declined reelection after his two ...
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Education
Years at LLS:
1800-1803
Other Education:
Attended the Willington Academy in the Abbeyville District of South Carolina.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
1804 in Litchfield County Court; Charleston, SC in 1805
Political Party:
Republican
Federal Posts:
U.S. Representative (SC) 1818-1821
Federal Committees:
Chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures in 1819 and 1820.
State Posts:
State Senator (SC) 1810-1812
Lt. Governor (SC) 1812-1814
State Senator (SC) 1822-1826
State Representative (SC) 1828-1830
Related Objects and Documents
Other:
Litchfield County, Litchfield County Court Papers by Subject: Admissions to the Bar
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Litchfield County Bar Association Records, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.

Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany, and Company, 1849), 5.
Secondary Sources:
Robert S. Phifer, ed., Notes on the Pickens, Calhoun, Simkins, Williamson, Morton, Middleton Families, Pickens Family Collection, 1945.

Chapman, John A. History of Edgefield County. Newberry, SC, 1897.
Contact Us

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If you have family papers, objects, or any other details you would like to share, or if you would like to obtain a copy of an image for publication, please contact us at curator@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.