Asher G. Caruth

Asher G. Caruth was born in Scottsville, Kentucky, on February 7, 1844.[1] He was the third child born to Henry Clay and Mary (Mansfield) Caruth.[2]

Caruth attended the public schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before graduating from the high school of Louisville in June 1864.[3] Later that year, he became the law librarian of the city of Louisville.[4] He matriculated to the law department of the University of Louisville (now the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law), graduating in March 1866.[1] He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.[1] While there, he established the Kentucky Weekly New Era newspaper.[1]

On February 23, 1871, Caruth married Ella Terry.[3]

Caruth moved to Louisville in 1871 and continued the practice of law.[1] From 1873 to 1880, he was annually elected attorney of the Board of Trustees of the Louisville Public Schools.[3] In 1876, he served as a Democratic presidential elector for the ticket of Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas Andrews Hendricks.[3] In 1880, he was elected Commonwealth's Attorney for the ninth judicial district of Kentucky for a six-year term.[1] He was re-elected without opposition in 1886.[3]

Caruth resigned as Commonwealth's Attorney in March 1887 after being elected to represent the Fifth District in the U.S. House of Representatives.[3] He served in the Fiftieth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1895).[1] He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1894.[1]

After his tenure in Congress, Caruth resumed the practice of law in Louisville.[1] He served as judge of the criminal division of the Jefferson County Circuit Court in 1902.[1] He served as commissioner of the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.[1] He died in Louisville on November 25, 1907, and was interred in Cave Hill Cemetery.[1]