James Barker Edmonds

Who was James Barker Edmonds?

James Barker Edmonds was president of the board of commissioners for the District of Columbia, USA, from 1883 to 1886.

Edmonds was born in Saratoga County, New York. He began the study of the law early, and was only 21 when he was admitted to the New York State bar in 1853 and entered practice. Three years later, in 1856, Edmonds relocated to Iowa City, Iowa, then the capital of the state, where he opened a law partnership with Charles T. Ransom and grew the firm into one of the most prestigious and wealthy in the Midwest.

Edmonds successfully practiced law in Iowa for 19 years, but in 1875 his poor health force him to relocate to Washington, D.C., where he settled into a retirement from the legal practice but remained a sought-after consultant for other attorneys in the city.

Although he remained the board's Republican commissioner until 1885, when former Louisiana Senator Joseph Rodman West resigned from the presidency of the D.C. Board of Commissioners in 1883, President Chester A. Arthur nominated Edmonds to serve as the board's Democratic commissioner and its chair.