Nathaniel Claiborne

Who was Nathaniel Claiborne?

Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne was a nineteenth-century politician from Virginia. He was the brother of William Charles Cole Claiborne, the nephew of Thomas Claiborne, the uncle of John Francis Hamtramck Claiborne and the great-great-great granduncle Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs and Claiborne de Borda Pell.

Born in Chesterfield, Virginia, Claiborne was schooled at a local academy as a child. He engaged in agricultural pursuits and was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1810 to 1812. Claiborne also served in the Virginia State Senate from 1821 to 1825 and was an executive councilor before being elected a Jacksonian and Anti-Jacksonian to the United States House of Representatives in 1824, serving from 1825 to 1837. There, he served as chairman of the Committee on Elections from 1831 to 1837. After being unsuccessful for reelection in 1836, Claiborne resumed agricultural pursuits until his death on August 15, 1859 near Rocky Mount, Virginia. He was interred in the family cemetery at his estate called "Claibrook" near Rocky Mount.