John Isaac Guion

John Isaac Guion (November 18, 1802 – June 6, 1855) was an American politician from Mississippi who served as Governor in 1851.

Painting of Guion on display at the Old Warren County Courthouse

John Isaac Guion
17th Governor of Mississippi
In office February 3, 1851 – November 4, 1851
Preceded by	John A. Quitman
Succeeded by	James Whitfield
Member of the Mississippi State Senate
In office 1842–1851
Personal details
Born	(1802-11-18)November 18, 1802 Adams County, Mississippi Territory, U.S.
Died	June 6, 1855(1855-06-06) (aged 52) Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.

Biography

Guion was born in Adams County in the Mississippi Territory to Sarah Lewis and U.S. Army officer and planter Isaac Guion. He studied law in Lebanon, Tennessee along with William L. Sharkey, was admitted to the bar, and established a successful practice in Vicksburg, Mississippi.^[1] He practiced in partnership with Sharkey and later with Seargent Smith Prentiss. John Isaac Guion was elected mayor of Natchez, Mississippi for the 1825–26 term.^[2]

A Democrat in politics, Guion was first elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1842. He later moved to Jackson, and continued to serve in the State Senate.

Guion supported slavery and states' rights. As a result, he played a prominent role in the Jackson convention of 1849, which was called to discuss how the Southern states should respond to the possibility of California being admitted to the union as a free state.

In 1850 Guion was chosen to serve as the Senate's President pro tempore. In February 1851, Governor John A. Quitman resigned to defend himself against charges of aiding in filibustering expeditions against Spanish rule in Cuba. Guion became acting governor and served until November when his Senate term expired. He had not run for reelection, and the Speaker of the Mississippi House had also not. Since no one in the line of succession could assume the governorship, the legislature subsequently chose James Whitfield as an interim replacement, and he served until the term of the new governor started in 1852.

Guion had not run for reelection to the State Senate because he had run for the Mississippi District Circuit Court judge in Jackson. He began his term as scheduled and served until his death. He died on June 6, 1855, and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson. He was remembered as handsome, courteous, "an effective jury lawyer, a social favorite...and a true gentleman of much ability."^[1]