Allen Caperton Braxton

Allen Caperton Braxton
Portrait and signature of Allen Caperton Braxton, for the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901-1902
Born	February 6, 1862 Monroe County, Virginia
Died	November 23, 1913(1913-11-23) (aged 51) Staunton, Virginia
Nationality	American
Occupation	Lawyer
Spouse(s)	Mary Patterson Miller (1913 - 1914, his death)

Allen Caperton Braxton (March 6, 1862 – March 22, 1914) was a Virginia lawyer and member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901–1902. He is considered the founder of the Virginia State Corporation Commission, and was president of the Virginia Bar Association in 1906-07.

Braxton was born at his grandfather's home in Monroe County shortly before West Virginia seceded from Virginia and became a state in its own right. He took pride in his ancestors, particularly Carter Braxton (who signed the Declaration of Independence) at whose ancestral estate Chericoke in King William County, Virginia he spent most of his childhood. His maternal grandfather was U.S. Senator Allen T. Caperton. Braxton was mostly home schooled but spent time at Pampatike academy. His father, Dr. Tomlin Braxton, died when young Allen was 16, so he left school to support his siblings. He tutored the children of West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Patton, and later worked as a civil engineer and bookkeeper, among other jobs.

After reading law and taking a single course at the University of Virginia, Braxton received a license top practice law in Virginia in 1883, and moved to Staunton. He was twice elected commonwealth's attorney and city attorney, serving from 1885 to 1889. He then established a private law firm, which prospered and ultimately opened a second office in Richmond, Virginia.

Braxton represented Staunton and Augusta County in the state constitutional convention of 1901-02, where he served on committees concerning Corporations, the Judiciary and Final Revision, as well as assisted the Committee on Finance and Banking. He supported the convention's mostly successful efforts to erase the gains in civil rights for African-Americans made during Reconstruction, and also effectively disenfranchised half of the Commonwealth's poor white voters. His work on the corporation committee led to the creation of the State Corporation Commission in 1902. Braxton promoted the commission as an independent agency that would balance the interests of consumers and common carriers, subject to review only by the Virginia Supreme Court. Braxton also successfully supported adopting that new constitution without submitting it to the electorate for approval.