Asbury Francis Lever

Asbury Francis Lever (January 5, 1875 - April 28, 1940) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina.

Lever was born near Springhill, Lexington County, South Carolina on January 5, 1875. He attended the county schools; was graduated from Newberry College in 1895. He taught school for two years and was the private secretary to Representative J. William Stokes from 1897 to 1901. He graduated from the law department of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1899 and was admitted to the bar in South Carolina the same year but did not practice.

He was a delegate to the Democratic State conventions in 1896 and 1900; a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1901. He was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of J. William Stokes was reelected to the Fifty-eighth and to the eight succeeding Congresses and served from November 5, 1901, until August 1, 1919, when he resigned to become a member of the Federal Farm Loan Board, in which capacity he served until 1922.

Lever was the chairman, Committee on Education (Sixty-second Congress) and Committee on Agriculture (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses). He was a member of the boards of trustees of Clemson College and Newberry College. He was elected president of the First Carolinas Joint Stock Land Bank at Columbia, S.C., in 1922 and was a field representative of Federal Farm Board. He was a director of the public relations administration of the Farm Credit Administration until his death.

He died on April 28, 1940, at “Seven Oaks,” near Charleston, S.C. He is interred at College Hill Cemetery, on campus of Clemson Agricultural College, Clemson, S.C.

ources

*Jacobs, Charles C. "Contested election case of Charles C. Jacobs vs. A. F. Lever, from the Seventh Congressional District of South Carolina". Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905.
*Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present