Rufus E. Lester facts for kids
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Rufus Ezekiel Lester
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Rufus Ezekiel Lester taken by C. M. Bell Studios
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 1st district |
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In office March 4, 1889 – June 16, 1906 |
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Preceded by | Thomas M. Norwood |
Succeeded by | James W. Overstreet |
40th Mayor of Savannah, Georgia | |
In office 1883–1889 |
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Preceded by | John Wheaton |
Succeeded by | John Schwarz |
Personal details | |
Born | Near Waynesboro, Georgia, U.S. |
December 12, 1837
Died | June 16, 1906 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
(aged 68)
Cause of death | Falling through skylight |
Resting place | Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Education | Mercer University |
Occupation | Attorney |
Rufus Ezekiel Lester (December 12, 1837 – June 16, 1906) was a U.S. Representative from Georgia.
Born near Waynesboro, Georgia, Lester graduated from Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, in 1857. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in Savannah, Georgia, and commenced practice in 1859. He entered the military service of the Confederate States Army in 1861 and served throughout the Civil War. He resumed the practice of law in Savannah. He served as member of the Georgia State Senate in 1870–1879 and served as president of that body during the last three years. He served as mayor of Savannah from 1883–1889.
Lester was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-first and to the eight succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1889 until his death in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 1906. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses).
He died after an accident in which he fell through a skylight on the roof of The Cairo, the Washington, D.C. apartment building where he resided. Lester went to the roof to look for his two young grandchildren and apparently missed his footing, fell about 30 feet through the skylight, and landed on the building's eleventh floor. He broke both legs and sustained internal injuries which proved fatal.
He was interred at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.