Jesse Bledsoe was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. His parents were the Reverend Joseph and Elizabeth (Miller) Bledsoe. He came to Kentucky at an early age with an older brother. He was educated at Transylvania University where he was regarded as a fine classics scholar. He was a tutor at Transylvania from 1795 to 1797. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar around 1800.
Bledsoe served as Secretary of State in the administration of Charles Scott from 1808 to 1812. He then represented Bourbon and Fayette counties in the General Assembly in 1812. He went to the U.S. Senate in 1813 and resigned in 1814. He was a member of the State Senate from 1817 to 1820. Governor John Adair appointed him to the Circuit Court in Lexington in 1822, and he also became a law professor at Transylvania that same year.
Scott retired from the legal profession to become a minister. He moved to Mississippi in 1833 and moved to Texas in 1835 where he died on June 25, 1836. He was survived by his wife, Sarah Scott, the stepdaughter of Governor Charles Scott.
References:
"Biographical Encyclopedia," (1878), pg. 52;
Collins, "History of Kentucky, Vol. II," (1874), pg. 80;
"Kentucky Encyclopedia," (1992), pg. 88.
