Charles James Faulkner was a United States Senator from West Virginia.
Background
Charles James Faulkner, the second son of Charles James Faulkner and Mary Wagner Boyd, born at Martinsburg, Virginia, at “Boydville, ” the ancestral home which he later inherited by his father’s will subject to the life estate of the mother. He had one brother, and six sisters who married into prominent Southern families. In 1860-61, while his father was minister to France, he attended schools in Paris and Switzerland.
Education
In 1860-61, while his father was minister to France, he attended schools in Paris and Switzerland.
In 1862 he entered the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington and with other cadets volunteered in the Confederate army.
Career
After serving with the cadets in the battle of New Market, he became aide to Gen. John C. Breckinridge and later to Gen. Henry A. Wise, with whom he remained until the surrender at Appomattox.
In October 1866, after a term of study in his father’s law office, he entered the department of law of the University of Virginia, from which he graduated with the LL. B.
In October 1880, he was elected judge of the 13th judicial circuit of West Virginia.
His decisions showed impartiality and good judgment.
By 1887 be had become prominent in politics.
Without being a candidate, he was elected to the United States Senate to succeed J. N. Camden, whose term expired on Mar. 4, and in 1893 was reelected for a second term.
Among the important bills which he framed as senator was that of 1888-89 which became the first general law prohibiting food and drug adulteration.
He was also the author of a law for regulation of railways in the District of Columbia.
He took a leading part in some of the great contests in the Senate of his period, including that on the Blair Educational Bill which was defeated largely by his activity.
He was one of the most active leaders in the defeat of the Force Bill (1890 - 91).
He was appointed a member of a joint commission of the two houses to investigate the cost of railway mail transportation and postal-car service.
In 1897-98 he was a member of the joint commission to investigate charities, and reformatory institutions in the District ot Columbia.
In April 1898 he spoke in favor of the resolutions for intervention in Cuba.
After his retirement from the Senate (1899) he resumed the practise of law with offices in Washington, and Martinsburg, specializing in corporation law and becoming attorney for several railroads.
He especially enjoyed his association with the Baltimore & Ohio, for which he had first been employed as counsel in 1868.
He was one of the charter members who organized the American Law Institute in May 1923.
In May 1918 he closed his Washington office and discontinued his legal work for the combined railroads.
Thereafter he resided at Martinsburg until his death.
His immediate community treasured him as the finest type of citizen, who was always ready to share actively in common undertakings.
His last public appearance was in the sesquicentennial parade of November 12, 1928, in which he rode with an escort of honor.
He died at “Boydville” in the same room in which he had been born over eighty-one years before.
Achievements
Membership
He was one of the charter members who organized the American Law Institute.
Connections
He was first married on November 25, 1869, to Sallie Winn of Charlottesville, Virginia, by whom he had five children. On January 3, 1894, he was married to Virginia Fairfax Whiting of Hampton, Virginia, by whom he had one son.