History of Edenton, (Chowan County) North Carolina United States of America

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Biographies:

James Iredell, governor of North Carolina, was born Edenton, N.C., Nov. 2, 1788; son of James and Hannah (Johnston) Iredell, and grandson of Francis and Margaret (McCulloch) Iredell. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1806, and A.M., 1809. He.was admitted to the bar in 1809, and in 1812 was captain of a company of volunteers and went to the defence of Norfolk, Va. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1816-27, and speaker, 1817 and 1819. He was judge of the superior court from March to May, 1819, when he resigned. He was governor of North Carolina in 1827-28, resigning in December, 1828, to accept a seat in the U.S. senate, made vacant by the resignation of Senator Nathaniel Macon, and be served as a senator till March 4, 1831. He practised law in Raleigh, N.C.; was reporter of the decisions of the state supreme court, and a commissioner to revise the laws of the state. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1813-53, and president of the board, 1827-28. He prepared and published: Revised Statutes of l836-37 (1837); Supreme Court Reports 13 vols., and Reports in Equity, 8 vols. (1841-52); Treatise on the Law of Executors and Administrators, and Digest of all the Reported Cases in the Courts of North Carolina, 1778 to 1845 (1839-46). He died in Edenton, N.C., April 13, 1853.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Frederick Beasley, educator, was born near Edenton, N. C., in 1777. He was educated at Nassau hall, Princeton, N.J., and was graduated in 1797, serving as tutor in the college until 1800, while pursuing his theological course. He received ordination as a priest of the Episcopal church in 1801, and was rector successively of St. John's, Elizabethtown, N.J. (1803); St. Peter's, Albany, N.Y. (1804), and St. Paul's, Baltimore, Md. (1809). He was provost of the University of Pennsylvania from 1813 till 1828, and also held the chair of mental and moral philosophy. He was rector at Trenton, N.J. 1829-35, retiring to Elizabethtown in 1836. He received the degree S.T.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and from Columbia college in 1815. He is the author of: "An Examination of the Oxford Divinity," "A Search of Truth in the Science of the Human Mind," "American Dialogues of the Dead" (1815); "A Vindication of the Argument in Proof of the Being and Attributes of God" (1825); "Review of Brown's Philosophy of the Human Mind" (1825); "A Vindication of the Fundamental Principles of Truth and Order in the Church of Christ," (1830). He died Nov. 2, 1845.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Allen, governor of Ohio, was born at Edenton, Chowan county, N. C., in 1807, and being orphaned in the first year of his life was taken by his sister, Mrs. Thurman, mother of Allen G. Thurman, to Lynchburg, Va., where he received his education at a private school and at the Chillicothe academy. He studied law with Edward King, by whom he was taken into partnership on his admission to the bar in 1827. His forensic ability early brought him into prominence at the bar, and his success as a political speaker gave him a nomination for representative in Congress when only twenty-three years old. In 1832 he was elected as a democratic representative to the 23d Congress, where he took a leading part in the prominent discussions, making a notable speech on the Ohio boundary line question, in which he antagonized John Quincy Adams. In 1837 he was elected to the U. S. senate to succeed Thomas Ewing. Before the close of his first term he was re-elected and held his seat until March 4, 1849; was chairman of the committee on foreign relations, and distinguished himself in the dispute between Great Britain and America in regard to the Oregon boundary; he was the originator of the phrase, "Fifty-four forty or fight." In 1873 he was elected governor of Ohio, the first democrat elected to that office for many years. He was in favor of the strictest economy in the administration of the affairs of the state, and of reduction in taxation. He was re-nominated in 1875, but having espoused the greenback cause he failed of election. He died July 11, 1879.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Thomas Courtland Manning, jurist, was born in Edenton, N.C., Sept. 14, 1825; son of Capt. Joseph and Sarah Long (Heugten) Manning, grandson of David and Edney (Moncreiff) Manning, and a descendant of John and Ann Manning. His first ancestor in America came from England and settled near Norfolk, Virginia, in the seventeenth century. He was a student at the University of North Carolina, 1842-43; was admitted to the bar in 1852, practised in Edenton, 1852-55, and then removed to Alexandria, La., where he soon acquired an extensive practice, and also bought and cultivated a large plantation between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He was a member of the state convention of 1861, and after the passage of the act of secession, Jan. 26, 1861, he joined a Louisiana regiment of state troops as lieutenant. He was transferred to the staff of Gov. Thomas O. Moore with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was made adjutant-general of the state in 1863, with the rank of brigadier-general. He was associate justice of the supreme court of Louisiana, 1864-65, during the administration of Governor Hahn; refused the Democratic nomination for governor in 1872 and was presidential elector on the Democratic ticket that year and vice-president of the Democratic national convention of 1876. He was chief justice of the supreme court of Louisiana, 1877-80. He was a Hancock and English presidential elector at large from Louisiana in 1881, and in November, 1880, was elected to the U.S. senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry M. Spofford, Aug. 20, 1880, but was not admitted. He served as chief justice of the supreme court of Louisiana, 1882-87, and was confirmed by the senate as U.S. minister to Mexico, Feb. 22, 1887. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1878. He was a trustee of the Peabody Education Fund, and while in New York city to attend a meeting of the board he died, Oct. 11, 1887.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor