Anselm J. McLaurin

Anselm J. McLaurin
Anselm J. McLaurin
United States Senator; from Mississippi
	In office; February 7, 1894 – March 4, 1895
Preceded by	Edward C. Walthall
Succeeded by	Edward C. Walthall
	In office; March 4, 1901 – December 22, 1909
Preceded by	William V. Sullivan
Succeeded by	James Gordon
34th Governor of Mississippi
	In office; January 20, 1896 – January 16, 1900
Lieutenant	J. H. Jones
Preceded by	John M. Stone
Succeeded by	Andrew H. Longino
Personal details
Born	Anselm Joseph McLaurin; March 26, 1848; Brandon, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	December 22, 1909 (aged 61); Brandon, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Laura Elvira Victoria Rauch
Children	1
Relatives	Robin Williams (great-great grandson); Zelda Williams (great-great-great granddaughter)
Military service
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Branch/service	Confederate Army
Years of service	1864 - 1865
Rank	Private; Captain (possibly)
Unit	3rd (Ashcraft’s) Battalion, Mississippi Cavalry
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Egypt Station; Battle of Selma; ;

Anselm Joseph McLaurin (March 26, 1848 – December 22, 1909) was the 34th Governor of Mississippi, serving from 1896 to 1900.

Life and career

McLaurin was born on March 26, 1848, in Brandon, Mississippi, the son of Ellen Caroline (née Tullus) and Lauchlin McLaurin III. He married Laura Elvira Rauch and had a daughter, Stella May McLaurin.

He became district attorney at age 21 and was described as "one of the foremost lawyers in the State". He participated in the convention for the writing of the Mississippi Constitution in 1890 and was described as a free-coinage man.^[3] A Democrat, as were most whites in the South through the mid-twentieth century, McLaurin was elected by the state legislature to the U.S. Senate, serving from 1894 to 1895.

He was the first Governor of Mississippi to be elected under the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, which disenfranchised most blacks by raising barriers to voter registration. These changes essentially ended the competitiveness of the Republican Party in the state and severely weakened the Populist Party. The last Confederate veteran elected as governor, McLaurin won the 1895 election, defeating Populist Frank Burkitt. He served from 1896 to 1900.

At Hazlehurst in 1898, McLaurin explained in a speech that one of the causes of the depleted state treasury was inadequate taxation of the railroad corporations.^[4]

In October 1898, McLaurin traveled by train to Forest, Mississippi, after white rioting in nearby Harperville.^[5] Blacks had resisted the arrest of one of their community, killing one white man. A mob of whites quickly gathered, killing nine blacks by the next day. The county sheriff and a posse arrested some blacks, while the white lynch mob continued to kill blacks on sight. The New Orleans Picayune said that 11 black men were killed and one white.^[6] The sheriff took several black men under armed guard to Meridian, Mississippi, to protect them from the white mobs in Forest.^[6]

McLaurin returned to the U.S. Senate in 1901 after being elected by the state legislature to that seat in 1900; he was re-elected on January 19, 1904.^[7]^[8]

He died of heart disease at age 61 on December 22, 1909, at his home in Brandon, Mississippi. He was sitting in a rocking chair in front of his fireplace.^[9]

Legacy

A great-great-grandson of McLaurin was actor and comedian Robin Williams, who was given McLaurin as his middle name.^[10]

References

^ Cecil L. Sumners (1999). The Governors of Mississippi. Pelican Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-56554-503-8.
^ The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, 1908, Pg. 977; ""He [Anselm J. McLaurin] was married at Trenton, Miss., February 22, 1870, to Laura Elvira Victoria Rauch, daughter of John Rauch and wife, Epsilon Rauch, of Trenton, Miss. Mrs. McLaurin's paternal ancestors immigrated to America from Germany; maternal from England and Germany.""
^ "A.J. McLaurin Nominated to be Senator from Mississippi" (PDF). The New York Times. February 7, 1894. Retrieved January 1, 2012. ... one of the foremost lawyers in the State ... District Attorney when twenty-one ... member of the Constitutional Convention of 1890 ... free-coinage man
^ McLaurin, Anselm Joseph. (December 12, 1898). Supplement : speech of Gov. A. J. M'Laurin at Hazlehurst, Miss., December 12, 1898. Vicksburg : Sunday journal, 1899 Miss. Dept. of Archives and History website.
^ "Fierce Race War in Mississippi", San Francisco Call, Volume 84, Number 146, 24 October 1898; California Digital Newspaper Collection; accessed 19 March 2017
^ ^a ^b Associated Press, "Mississippi Race War/ Counting Its Victims by the Dozen", Los Angeles Herald, Volume 26, Number 25, 25 October 1898; California Digital Newspaper Collection; accessed 20 March 2017
^ "Re-elect Senators McLaurin and Money" (PDF). The New York Times. January 20, 1904. p. 5.
^ "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. November 9, 1903. p. 58. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
^ "Senator M'Laurin Dies at Fireside. Seized with Heart Disease While in a Rocking Chair in His Mississippi Home. Fought For South At 18. Afterward Studied Law on Farm, and Rose Rapidly in Politics. His Work on Senate Committees". The New York Times. December 23, 1909. Retrieved March 23, 2010. United States Senator Anselm Joseph McLaurin died suddenly to-night of heart disease at his home in Brandon, Miss. The fatal attack seized Senator McLaurin while he was seated in a rocking chair in front of the fireplace in his library. He fell forward without speaking a word, and life was extinct when members of his family reached his side. ...
^ Phillip, Abby (August 12, 2014). "Robin Williams brought a punchline to the political fight". The Washington Post.