Parry Wayne Humphreys


Parry Wayne Humphreys was an American politician who represented Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives.

Biography

Humphreys was born in Staunton, Virginia, but moved with his family to Kentucky in 1789, and later settled in Tennessee. After he finished preparatory studies, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1801.

Career

Humphreys opened his practice in Nashville, Tennessee. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1805 and the Tennessee Senate in 1807. He was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Tennessee from 1807 to 1809 and a judge of the State judicial circuit from 1809 to 1813.
Elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Thirteenth Congress, Humphreys served from March 4, 1813 to March 3, 1815. In 1817 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate. He again served as a judge on the State judicial circuit from 1818 to 1836. Humphreys County, Tennessee is named for him.
Humphreys moved to Hernando, Mississippi and engaged in banking there until his death.

Personal life, death and legacy

Humphreys had a son, West Hughes Humphreys, who served as a Confederate judge.
Humphreys died on February 12, 1839, at the age of 61. He was interred at Methodist Cemetery. His granddaughter Annie married John W. Morton, who served as a captain in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War and the founder of the Nashville chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.