Henry Hollis Horton (February 17, 1866 – July 2, 1934) was an American attorney, farmer and politician who served as the 36th Governor of Tennessee from 1927 to 1933. He was elevated to the position when Governor Austin Peay died in office, and as Speaker of the Tennessee Senate, he was first in the line of succession. He was subsequently elected to two more two-year terms. Horton's tenure as governor was marred by a scandal after the Stock Market crash in 1929. The related collapse of the financial empires of his political allies, Luke Lea and Rogers Caldwell, cost the state more than $6 million in funds deposited in their banks by Horton's administration. The legislature held a vote on impeaching the governor, but the measure did not carry and he served out his term. He retired from politics and returned to his farm in Marshall County. Early life Horton was born in 1866 in the Princeton community of Jackson County, Alabama, one of 12 children of Henry Hollis Horton, a Baptist minister, and Anne (Moore) Horton. He attended Scottsboro Academy in Scottsboro, Alabama, before graduating from Winchester College in Winchester, Tennessee, in 1888. He moved to Hillsboro, Texas to teach school, but returned to Tennessee after about a year. He attended the University of the South in Sewanee in the early 1890s to study law. Horton was admitted to the bar in 1894, and practiced law in Franklin County. He held various local offices, including school director and election commissioner, and worked as director of the Home Bank of Winchester. Marriage and family Horton married Adeline Wilhoite in 1896. They had one son. Early political career Horton was elected to represent Franklin County for one term in the Tennessee House of Representatives, from 1907 to 1909. He was a supporter of prohibition. In 1911, Horton and his family moved to Marshall County, Tennessee. He operated a farm and mill that had been established by his in-laws, the Wilhoites, on the Duck River near Chapel Hill. Governor Horton was elected to the Tennessee Senate in 1926 for the district of Marshall and Lincoln counties. He served as Speaker of the Senate from 1926-1927. When Governor Austin Peay died in office on October 2, 1927, Horton became governor according to Tennessee’s gubernatorial succession law. Unfamiliar with running a statewide campaign, Horton turned to Peay's longtime adviser, Luke Lea, publisher of the