Allen T. Caperton

Allen Taylor Caperton (November 21, 1810 – July 26, 1876) was an American politician who was a United States senator from the State of West Virginia in 1875–1876. He was a member of the Democratic Party. He had been in the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate before the American Civil War. During the Civil War, he was a Confederate States senator.

Early life Allen Taylor Caperton was born on November 21, 1810, near Union, Monroe County, Virginia (now West Virginia), to Jane Erskine and Hugh Caperton. At the age of 14, he traveled by horseback to Huntsville, Alabama, to attend school. He later graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, then graduated from Yale College in 1832. He studied law under Briscoe Baldwin in Staunton, Virginia, and was admitted to the bar.

Political career Caperton practiced law. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates again from 1857 to 1861. In 1850, he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. In 1861, he was a member of the Virginia Secession Convention.

Personal life

Caperton married Harriet Echols, sister of John Echols. They had five children, Lin, Lizzie, Mrs. William A. Gordon, Mary and Allen T. Jr. His daughter Lin married James French Patton and later married judge Edward Franklin Bingham.

Caperton died of heart disease at his room on I Street NW in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 1876. He was interred in Green Hill Cemetery in Union, West Virginia.