David Q. Eggleston

David Quin Eggleston (June 10, 1857 – October 17, 1909) was an American politician who served as a member of the Virginia Senate and as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia.[1]

David Q. Eggleston
Drawing of Eggleston, Richmond Dispatch c. 1901
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia
In office
December 9, 1901 – October 17, 1909
Preceded byJoseph T. Lawless
Succeeded byB. O. James
Member of the Virginia Senate
from the 25th district
In office
December 1, 1897 – December 4, 1901
Preceded byThomas N. Williams
Succeeded byJames N. Hutcheson
Personal details
BornJune 10, 1857
Charlotte County, Virginia, U.S.
DiedOctober 17, 1909(1909-10-17) (aged 52)
Children3, including John W. Eggleston
Alma materUniversity of Virginia

Early life and education

David Quin Eggleston was born in 1857 in Charlotte County, Virginia, the son of John William Eggleston, a longtime member of the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors, and Lucy Nash Morton.[2]

Eggleston attended Hampden–Sydney College and received a law degree from the University of Virginia.[3][4] He was in the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.[5][6][7]

He married Sue E. Daniel in 1883 and they had 6 children, including John W. Eggleston, who later served as chief justice of the Virginia Superior Court of Appeals.[2][8]

Eggleston was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1879. He practiced law in Smithville, Virginia, and began to participate in Democratic Party politics during that period.[9]

In the early 1890s, Eggleston served as vice president of the Virginia Real Estate Exchange. In 1892, Eggleston moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as clerk for the United States House of Representatives Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture.[1][10]

In 1897, Eggleston was elected as a member of the Senate of Virginia, representing Charlotte and Mecklenburg Counties. He served one term from 1897 to 1901.[2]

In May 1901, he was elected as one of the 100 members of the Virginia Constitutional Convention.[11][12] While a member of the convention, he proposed several unsuccessful measures, including abolishing the county courts and city circuit courts and eliminating most state funding for schools that served African American students.[1] Eggleston voted with the majority to impose a system of poll taxes which resulted in the disenfranchisement of black voters and reduced the number of white voters in half.[11]

Secretary of the Commonwealth

In 1901, the Virginia General Assembly elected Eggleston to serve as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia.[13] The 1902 constitution made the office of secretary elective by the voters, and in 1905, Eggleston won the popular election to remain in office.[14] As secretary, Eggleston was named as a defendant in an unsuccessful lawsuit that the Negro Industrial Association of Virginia filed against the commonwealth to contest the voting restrictions that were enacted by the Constitutional Convention.[15] Eggleston was again the Democratic candidate for secretary in 1909, but he fell ill with pneumonia during the campaign.[16]

Death

Eggleston died on October 17, 1909, and was buried in the family cemetery at Charlotte Court House, Virginia.[1][16]

References
  1. "Dictionary of Virginia Biography - David Quin Eggleston Biography". www.lva.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  2. Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (1909). Men of Mark in Virginia: Ideals of American Life; a Collection of Biographies of the Leading Men in the State. Men of Mark Publishing Company.
  3. Baird, William Raimond (1907). The Hand-book of Beta Theta Pi. The author.
  4. College, Hampden-Sydney (1908). General Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia, 1776-1906. Whittet & Shepperson, printers.
  5. A Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the University of Virginia, Fifty-Fifth Session, 1878–9 (1879)
  6. Pi, Beta Theta (1905). Catalogue of Beta Theta Pi.
  7. Baird, William Raimond (1914). Betas of Achievement: Being Brief Biographical Records of Members of the Beta Theta Pi who Have Achieved Distinction in Various Fields of Endeavor. Beta publishing Company.
  8. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, 59 (1980): 215.
  9. "A Guide to the David Q. Eggleston Papers Eggleston, David Q. 38-604". ead.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  10. Official Congressional Directory for the Use of the United States Congress: By W. H. Michael, Clerk of Printing Records. Second Edition. Corrected to February 10, 1892. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1893. p. 212.
  11. Heinemann, Ronald L.; Kolp, John G.; Parent, Anthony S.; Shade, William G. (2008). Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607-2007. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-2769-5.
  12. Brenaman, Jacob Neff (1902). A History of Virginia Conventions. J.L. Hill printing Company. p. 98.
  13. "Richmond Dispatch 12 June 1901 — Virginia Chronicle: Digital Newspaper Archive". virginiachronicle.com. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  14. The American Almanac, Year-book, Cyclopaedia and Atlas. New York American and Journal, Hearst's Chicago American and San Francisco Examiner. 1903.
  15. Court, United States Supreme (1904). United States Supreme Court Reports. Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company.
  16. "Times Dispatch 18 October 1909 — Virginia Chronicle: Digital Newspaper Archive". virginiachronicle.com. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
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