Representative Asa Porter Grover

Asa Porter Grover (February 18, 1819 – July 20, 1887) was a United States Representative from Kentucky and a long-serving state legislator during the mid-nineteenth century. He was born near Phelps, Ontario County, New York, where he attended the local common schools. In 1837, as a young man, he moved from New York to Kentucky, a relocation that would shape his professional and political life. His early years in Kentucky were marked by a commitment to education and self-improvement that laid the foundation for his later legal and political career.

After settling in Kentucky, Grover pursued higher education at Centre College in Danville, one of the state’s leading institutions of learning. While completing his studies, and in the period immediately thereafter, he taught school in Woodford and Franklin Counties, contributing to the educational development of central Kentucky. During this time, he also read law, following the then-common practice of legal apprenticeship rather than formal law school training. His efforts culminated in his admission to the bar in 1843, after which he commenced the practice of law in Owenton, the seat of Owen County, Kentucky.

Grover’s legal practice in Owenton provided the platform for his entry into public life. As a lawyer in a small but growing Kentucky community, he became involved in local affairs and aligned himself with the Democratic Party, which dominated much of Kentucky’s political landscape in the antebellum and Civil War eras. His reputation as an attorney and party loyalist led to his election to the Kentucky Senate, where he served from 1857 to 1865, a period that spanned the secession crisis and the Civil War. During his tenure in the state senate, he participated in legislative deliberations at a time when Kentucky, a border state with divided loyalties, faced intense political and social pressures.

In addition to his service in the state legislature, Grover was a member of the Democratic State convention in 1863, reflecting his prominence within the party during the war years. His role in that convention placed him among the Democratic leaders who sought to shape Kentucky’s stance amid national conflict and Reconstruction-era realignments. Through these years, he maintained his legal practice while helping to guide state policy in a politically complex environment.

Grover’s state-level prominence led to his election as a Democrat to the Fortieth Congress, representing Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives for the term beginning March 4, 1867, and ending March 3, 1869. His service, however, was overshadowed by the turbulent politics of Reconstruction. Owing to charges of disloyalty—allegations reflecting the heightened scrutiny of public officials with perceived Southern sympathies in the post–Civil War period—he was not seated at the opening of the Congress. After investigation, these charges were found to be unsustained, and he was finally seated on December 3, 1867. Despite being a member of the House for the remainder of the term, he never cast a vote as a Member of Congress, an unusual circumstance that underscored the contentious political environment of the era and the limitations placed on some Southern and border-state Democrats during Reconstruction.

At the conclusion of his congressional term in March 1869, Grover did not seek or hold further federal office. Instead, he resumed the practice of law in Kentucky, returning to the profession that had anchored his public career. For more than a decade after leaving Congress, he continued his legal work, maintaining his standing as a respected attorney and Democratic figure in the state.

In 1881, Grover moved to Georgetown, the seat of Scott County, Kentucky, where he continued to practice law. He remained professionally active there until his death on July 20, 1887. Asa Porter Grover died in Georgetown and was interred in Georgetown Cemetery, closing a life that had spanned from the antebellum period through the Civil War and Reconstruction, and that had included significant service in both the Kentucky Senate and the United States House of Representatives.