Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry
| Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry | |
|---|---|
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry in 1901
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|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 5, 1825 Lincoln County, Georgia |
| Died | February 12, 1903 (aged 77) Asheville, North Carolina |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (June 5, 1825 – February 12, 1903) was an American politician and diplomat who served as an officer of the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War.
Curry was born in Lincoln County, Georgia, the son of Jabez and Rebecca Jordan Curry. His father, scion of a prominent Southern family, was cousin of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas and husband of Tabitha Burwell Jordan, J.L.M. Curry's aunt. Curry grew up in Alabama and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1843 where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society. While studying at Harvard Law School, Curry was inspired by the lectures of Horace Mann and became an advocate of free universal education. He served in the Mexican-American War; in the Alabama State Legislature in 1847, 1853, and 1855; in the United States House of Representatives in 1857–61; and in the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. As a lieutenant-colonel in the Confederate Army, he was a staff aide to General Joseph E. Johnston and General Joseph Wheeler.
After the war he studied for the ministry and became a preacher, but the focus of his work was free education in the South. He traveled and lectured in support of state normal schools, adequate rural schools, and a system of graded public schools. He was president of Howard College, Alabama, and a professor at Richmond College, Virginia. From 1881 until his death he was agent for the Peabody and Slater Funds to aide schools in the South and was instrumental in the founding of both the Southern Education Board and the first normal school in Virginia, now known as Longwood University. The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia is named for him, as is the Curry Hall dormitory at Longwood.
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