James A. McKenzie

Who was James A. McKenzie?

James Andrew McKenzie was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky and uncle of John McKenzie Moss.

Born in Bennettstown, Kentucky, McKenzie attended the common schools of Christian County and Centre College, Danville, Kentucky. He studied law and admitted to the bar in 1861, and commenced practice in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. McKenzie also engaged in agricultural pursuits during this time.

During the Civil War he served as a private in the Confederate States Army.

Following the war, he served as member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871. McKenzie later was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh United States Congresses. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1882.

McKenzie then served as Secretary of State of Kentucky under Governor J. Proctor Knott from 1884 to 1888 and as commissioner from Kentucky to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Illinois in 1893. In that same year, he was appointed Minister to Peru by President Grover Cleveland.

He resigned and settled on his farm near Long View, Kentucky. He died at Oak Grove, Kentucky, on June 25, 1904.