William Campbell Preston Breckinridge

William Campbell Preston Breckinridge (August 28, 1837 - November 18, 1904) was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Kentucky, a Member of the Freemasons, and a Member of the Knights Templar. He was the first cousin of Vice President of the United States John C. Breckinridge. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and graduated from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky in 1855. He went on to earn his Juris Doctor from the University of Louisville in 1857. He returned to Lexington, Kentucky to engage in the practice of law. He entered the Confederate Army in 1861 as a Captain under John Hunt Morgan, and by the end of the war held the rank of Colonel. Following the war, he returned to Lexington, Kentucky where he resumed the practice of law, taught jurisprudence at the University of Kentucky, and was ultimately elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1885. He held that position through five Congresses (the 49th Congress through the 53rd Congress). A Breach of Promise suit filed by a former mistress in 1894 may have ruined his political career. Breckinridge, a member of the Breckinridge political family, passed away November 18, 1904, and is interred in Lexington Cemetery.

Sources

• http://www.breckinridge.com/breckbio.htm
• http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/breckinridge.html#R9M0IQCMB
• Biography from John McAfee's Kentucky Politicians
• William Campbell Preston Breckinridge at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress