Representative Presley Thornton Glass

Presley Thornton Glass (October 18, 1824 – October 9, 1902) was an American politician, lawyer, and member of the United States House of Representatives for the 9th congressional district of Tennessee. A Democrat, he served two terms in Congress from 1885 to 1889 and participated actively in the legislative process during a significant period in American history, representing the interests of his constituents in western Tennessee.

Glass was born on October 18, 1824, in Houston, Halifax County, Virginia, the son of Dudley and Nancy Carr Glass. In 1828, when he was still a small child, he moved with his parents to Weakley County, Tennessee. He was educated locally and attended Dresden Academy, an important regional institution that prepared many young men for professional careers. Demonstrating early leadership, he was elected colonel of militia at the age of eighteen, reflecting both his standing in the community and the importance of local military organization in antebellum Tennessee.

After his early education, Glass pursued legal studies. He studied law and attended one course at the law school in Lexington, Kentucky, commonly known as the Lexington Law School, to further his professional training. He was admitted to the bar in 1847 and commenced the practice of law in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee. On December 20, 1848, he married Sarah C. Partee. The couple had two children, Hiram D. Glass and James Nelson Glass, and established their family life in Ripley, where Glass built his legal and political career.

Glass entered public office relatively early. In 1848, shortly after beginning his law practice, he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, marking his first term in the state legislature. He later returned to state service and again served in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1882, underscoring his continued influence in Tennessee politics over several decades. During the American Civil War, Glass served in the Confederate service as a commissary officer with the rank of major, a role that involved responsibility for the procurement and distribution of supplies to Confederate forces.

Building on his legal practice and state legislative experience, Glass advanced to national office as a member of the Democratic Party. He was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses and served as a Representative from Tennessee in the United States Congress from March 4, 1885, to March 3, 1889. Representing Tennessee’s 9th congressional district, he contributed to the legislative process during two terms in office, participating in the democratic process at a time of post-Reconstruction adjustment and economic change in the South. In 1888 he sought to continue his service in the House but was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination, which brought his congressional career to a close at the end of his second term.

After leaving Congress, Glass returned to private life in Ripley, Tennessee, where he had long been established as a lawyer and community leader. He remained a respected figure in local and state Democratic circles and continued to be identified with the generation of Southern politicians who had guided Tennessee through the Civil War and its aftermath. He lived in Ripley until his death on October 9, 1902, at the age of 77 years and 356 days. Presley Thornton Glass was interred at Maplewood Cemetery in Ripley, Tennessee, closing a long career of public service at the local, state, and national levels.