succeeded death_date death_place birth_place jr/sr party profession preceded term birth_date article_title state name
ephraim h. foster joseph s. fowler 23 march 1876 columbia , tennessee , us franklin , tennessee , us united states senator democrat politician , lawyer , editor , bank president felix grundy john bell december , 1842 march 4 , 1859 & ndash ; march 25 4 , 1861 , 1840 & ndash ; february 7 31 august 1808 alfred o. p. nicholson
 tennessee alfred osborn pope nicholson
alfred o. p. nicholson

alfred osborn pope nicholson -lrb- august 31 , 1808march 23 , 1876 -rrb- , a tennessee democratic politician and lawyer , was twice a united states senator from that state .
nicholson was born near franklin , tennessee in williamson county .
he attended the university of north carolina at chapel hill , graduating in 1827 .
he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1831 , opening a law practice in columbia , tennessee .
he edited the `` western mercury '' , a paper then published in columbia , from 1832 to 1835 .
he also served in the tennessee house of representatives from 1833 to 1839 .
in 1840 the tennessee general assembly elected him , on an interim basis , to succeed to the u.s. senate seat vacated by the death of senator felix grundy .
he served in that office from december 25 , 1840 to february 7 , 1842 .
from 1843 to 1845 he served in the tennessee state senate , moving to nashville during this period , and edited the `` nashville union '' from 1844 to 1846 .
from 1846 to 1847 he served as a director , and then as president , of the bank of tennessee .
in 1853 president franklin pierce wished to appoint him to the cabinet , but he declined to serve .
he edited the `` washington union '' from 1853 to 1856 and subsequently served as public printer to the united states house of representatives .
in 1858 nicholson was again elected to the united states senate from tennessee by the tennessee general assembly .
he served from march 4 , 1859 to march 4 , 1861 , when he withdrew from participation in the senate in anticipation of tennessee secession from the union , which occurred the next month .
later in 1861 , he was formally expelled from the senate , as were all senators from the states joining the confederacy with the sole exception of his fellow tennessean andrew johnson , a loyal unionist .
after the war , nicholson served as chief justice of the tennessee supreme court from 1870 until his death .
he was buried in columbia 's rose hill cemetery .
