John Walker Maury

John Walker Maury (May 15, 1809 – February 2, 1855) was an American municipal politician from the Democratic Party. He served as the fifteenth mayor of the City of Washington for a single two-year term, from 1852 to 1854. Early life John Walker Maury was born in Caroline County, Virginia in 1809 to a prominent Virginia family. His great-grandfather, Reverend James Maury, had founded the Maury Classical School for Boys at which Thomas Jefferson was his student for two years. His grandfather, Walker Maury, was headmaster of a school in Williamsburg; his great-uncle, "Consul" James Maury, was the United States' first consul to Liverpool, England, appointed by George Washington; and his second cousin, Matthew Fontaine Maury, was a famous and accomplished oceanographer. He moved at 17 to the City of Washington (as Washington, D.C. was then called), where he established a law practice. He married five years later, in 1831, to Isabel Foyles, eventually producing 15 children. Political career At the age of 26, John Walker Maury was elected to the Common Council of Washington City, serving for five years until declining to run again in 1840. However, one year afterward he was elected to the Board of Aldermen. After eleven years as an alderman, Maury was elected as Mayor in 1852.