Early Life and Education
John C. Breckinridge was born at Thorn Hill, his family's estate near Lexington, Kentucky, on January 16, 1821. He was the only son among six children born to Joseph Cabell and Mary Clay (Smith) Breckinridge. His father had served as Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives and Kentucky's Secretary of State. His mother was the daughter of Samuel Stanhope Smith, who founded Hampden–Sydney College in 1775, and granddaughter of John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. John Breckinridge, who served in the U.S. Senate and as Attorney General under President Thomas Jefferson, was his paternal grandfather.
Breckinridge's father died when he was two years old, and his mother first moved the family to Cabell's Dale, the Lexington estate where her widowed mother-in-law lived. Later, as a result of an argument between the two women, the family moved to Danville, Kentucky, to live with one of Breckinridge's maternal aunts. Although the rift between Mary Breckinridge and her in-laws never fully healed, John C. Breckinridge retained a fondness for his father's family.
Breckinridge received his early education at Pisgah Academy in Woodford County. From there, he matriculated to Centre College in Danville, where his brother-in-law, John C. Young, served as president and his uncle, William Breckinridge, was a member of the faculty. After graduating in 1838, he enrolled at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) but remained there only six months before returning to Kentucky. He then read law with Judge William Owsley and enrolled at Transylvania University in Lexington in 1840. He completed his law degree from Transylvania in February 1841 and was admitted to the bar the day after his graduation. For a while, he remained in Lexington, borrowing books from the library of John J. Crittenden to further his knowledge of the law. Seeing that his prospects for work would be limited due to the number of lawyers in Lexington, he moved his practice to Frankfort, where he delivered a notable Independence Day speech honoring the Frankfort Light Infantry. In October 1841, he left Kentucky and settled in Burlington, Iowa.
Breckinridge visited Kentucky again in May 1843. He had planned a short visit, but he found his mother still at odds with the Breckinridges, and his efforts at mediation took longer than he intended. After contracting influenza, he decided to remain in Kentucky for the summer rather than returning to the colder climate of Iowa Territory. During his stay, he also met Mary Cyrene Burch, a cousin of his law partner, Thomas Bullock. The couple began a courtship, was engaged by September, and married on December 12, 1843. After the wedding, Breckinridge decided to remain in Kentucky, settling in Georgetown, Kentucky. Six children were born to the couple over the next eleven years – Joseph Cabell (b. 1844), Clifton Rhoads (b. 1846), Frances (b. 1848), John Milton (b. 1849), John Witherspoon (b. 1850), and Mary Desha (b. 1854). Clifton Rhoads Breckinridge went on to become a Congressman from Arkansas. Gaining confidence in his ability as a lawyer, Breckinridge moved his family back to Lexington in 1845. There, he formed a law partnership with future U.S. Senator James B. Beck.
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