Representative Shelton Farrar Leake

Shelton Farrar Leake (November 30, 1812 – March 4, 1884) was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer, and teacher from Virginia who became the first lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth and served two non-consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives. Born near Hillsboro in Albemarle County, Virginia, he was the son of Dr. Samuel Leake and Sophia Farrar. Raised in the Piedmont region of Virginia, he completed preparatory studies locally before embarking on a career that combined education, law, and public service.

In his early adulthood, Leake taught school while pursuing legal studies, reflecting the common antebellum pattern of combining teaching with professional training. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1835, after which he commenced the practice of law in Charlottesville, Virginia. His legal practice in Charlottesville placed him at the center of regional political and commercial life and provided a platform for his entry into public affairs.

Leake’s political career began in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he served as a member in 1842 and 1843. His service in the state legislature helped establish his reputation as a Democratic politician in a period marked by debates over states’ rights, internal improvements, and the expansion of slavery. In 1844 he was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives, representing Virginia in the Twenty-ninth Congress from March 4, 1845, to March 3, 1847. In the 1845 election he won his seat with 52.55 percent of the vote, defeating an Independent candidate identified only as Irving. During this first term in Congress, he participated in the legislative process at a time of significant national change, including the annexation of Texas and the Mexican–American War, and represented the interests of his Virginia constituents in the broader democratic process.

After leaving Congress in 1847, Leake returned to his legal practice and remained active in Democratic Party politics. He served as a presidential elector in 1849, taking part in the Electoral College proceedings following the 1848 presidential election. In 1851 he was elected the first lieutenant governor of Virginia, a newly created statewide office, and he served in that capacity from 1852 to 1856. As lieutenant governor, he occupied a key role in the state’s executive branch during the turbulent decade preceding the Civil War, working alongside the governor in overseeing state administration and public policy.

Leake reentered national politics later in the 1850s. In 1858 he was elected back to the United States House of Representatives as an Independent Democrat, also described as a member of the Independent Party representing Virginia, reflecting both his Democratic background and a measure of political independence amid growing sectional tensions. He served in the Thirty-sixth Congress from March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1861. In the 1859 election he secured 59.17 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Paulus Powell. His second term in Congress coincided with an especially significant period in American history, immediately preceding the outbreak of the Civil War, during which he again contributed to the legislative process and represented the interests of his constituents in a deeply divided national legislature.

Following the conclusion of his second term in Congress in 1861, Leake once more resumed the practice of law in Charlottesville. He continued his legal career through the Civil War and Reconstruction eras and into the late nineteenth century, remaining a figure of local prominence. Shelton Farrar Leake died in Charlottesville, Virginia, on March 4, 1884. He was interred in Maplewood Cemetery in Charlottesville, closing a long life marked by service as a teacher, lawyer, state legislator, lieutenant governor, and United States Representative during some of the most consequential decades in Virginia and American history.