Walter Leake
Walter Daniel Leake (May 20, 1762November 6, 1825) was a judge, U.S. senator, and governor of Mississippi. He served as a United States Senator from Mississippi (1817–1820), as a justice in 1821, and as third Governor of Mississippi (1822–1825). He was the first Governor of Mississippi to die in office. Biography Early life Walter Leake was born on May 20, 1762, in Albemarle County in the Colony of Virginia. He was the son of Captain Mask Leake and nephew of Rev. Samuel Leake (Princeton University graduate and a member of the first Board of Trustees of Hampden–Sydney College), an ancestor of Senator John McCain of Arizona. Walter Leake was descended from John Leake. Leake served in the American Revolutionary War, serving in the Battle of Yorktown according to Marquis de Lafayette, and later served in Virginia's General Assembly. Career Leake was appointed a judge in the Territory of Mississippi in 1807, and he settled in Claiborne County, and he would serve as a delegate to Mississippi's Constitutional Convention of 1817 for this county. Leake served as a United States Senator for the State of Mississippi from 1817 to 1820. While in the Senate, Leake served as Chairman of the Committee