Doddridge County Roots

A West Virginia Genealogy

William Joseph GASTON

William Joseph GASTON

Male 1778 - 1844  (65 years)

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  • Name William Joseph GASTON 
    Born 19 Sep 1778  New Bern, Craven Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3
    Gender Male 
    Occupation Congressman & Judge 
    Died 23 Jan 1844  Raleigh, Wake Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3, 4
    Buried Cedar Grove Cemetery, New Bern, NC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • William Joseph Gaston was initially buried in Raleigh, but his remains were later taken to New Bern for burial by the graves of his parents and daughter.
    Notes 
    • William Gaston of North Carolina entered Georgetown on Nov 22 1791 as the first student to enroll. Though health forced his transfer to Princeton, where he was placed in the third year of studies after a year and a half at Georgetown, Gaston remained close to the faculty throughout his life. He served in the U.S. Congress 1813-15, where he introduced the legislation chartering the college, and served as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court 1833-44. In 1817, he voluntarily retired from Congress and never again entered national politics, declining in 1840 the offer of the U.S. senatorship and in 1841 the offer of a seat as Attorney General in the cabinet of President Harrison. He wrote the state song of North Carolina, where the city of Gastonia and the county of Gaston are named in his honor.
      http://gulib.lausun.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/case5.htm

      "In 1835, Gaston was an influential delegate to the North Carolina Constitutional Convention, where he fought to have religious qualifications for office holding dropped and where he attempted to protect the voting privileges of free people of color. Gaston also supported federal representation as the basis for representation in the House of Commons and biennial meetings of the state legislature.
      "Gaston's law practice was very successful and his reputation in legal circles was of national scope. Daniel Webster and John Marshall, among others, consulted with him on legal questions. In 1833, Gaston was elected by the state legislature to a post as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, where he served until his death in 1844. Gaston's most famous decision on the bench came in 1834 with the case of State v. Negro Will. Gaston ruled that a slave had the right to defend himself against an unlawful attempt of a master, or an agent of a master, to kill him. In the significant case of State v. William Manuel in 1838, he held that a manumitted slave was a citizen of the state and thus entitled to the guarantees of the constitution. Gaston purchased a library for the state Supreme Court while on a trip to New York City in 1835. "
      http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/g/Gaston,William.html#

      Some accounts put his two older children, Alexander and Susan, as being by his first wife, Susan Hay, but according to his biography, "William Gaston, Carolinian," by J. Herman Schauinger (Bruce Publishing Co, Milwaukee, WI, 1949), Susan died just eight months after they were married. Because his second wife, Hannah, died in 1813, it is clear that his first three children were by her, and his last two by his third wife, Eliza Ann Worthington, daughter of the college physician. [5]
    Person ID I3398  Doddridge County Roots
    Last Modified 9 Dec 1993 

    Father Alexander GASTON,   b. 1727, Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 20 Aug 1781, New Bern, Craven Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 54 years) 
    Mother Margaret SHARPE,   b. 1755, Cumberland County, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1811  (Age 56 years) 
    Family ID F1190  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Susan HAY,   b. CA 1787,   d. 20 Apr 1804  (Age ~ 17 years)  [3
    Married 4 Sep 1803  Fayetteville, Cumberland Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  [6
    Family ID F1193  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Hannah MCCLURE,   b. CA 1786,   d. 14 Jul 1813, New Bern, Craven Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 27 years)  [3
    Married 6 Oct 1805  New Bern, Craven Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location  [6
    Children 
     1. Alexander F. GASTON,   b. 19 Jan 1807, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1848  (Age 40 years)
     2. Susan Jane GASTON,   b. 4 Jun 1808, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1866  (Age 57 years)
     3. Hannah Margaret GASTON,   b. 18 Mar 1811, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 16 Mar 1835, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 23 years)
    Family ID F1194  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 3 Eliza Ann WORTHINGTON,   d. 19 Jan 1819, North Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married 3 Sep 1816  Georgetown, Washington, DC Find all individuals with events at this location  [7
    Children 
     1. Eliza Ann GASTON,   b. 27 Sep 1817, Georgetown, Washington, DC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1874  (Age 56 years)
     2. Catherine Jane (Kate) GASTON,   b. 6 Jan 1819, New Bern, Craven Co, NC Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1885  (Age 65 years)
    Family ID F1195  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 19 Sep 1778 - New Bern, Craven Co, NC Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 4 Sep 1803 - Fayetteville, Cumberland Co, NC Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 6 Oct 1805 - New Bern, Craven Co, NC Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 3 Sep 1816 - Georgetown, Washington, DC Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - 23 Jan 1844 - Raleigh, Wake Co, NC Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Judge William J. Gaston
    Judge William J. Gaston

    Documents
    Fayetteville (NC) Weekly Observer, 6 Jan 1835
    Fayetteville (NC) Weekly Observer, 6 Jan 1835

  • Sources 
    1. [S557] William Gaston: Carolinian, J. Herman Schauinger, (Bruce Publishing Company, 1949), p. 2.

    2. [S1868] The Ancestry and Descendants of Amzi Williford Gaston II (1841-1911) of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Mary Gaston Gee (1899-1987), (Charlottesville, VA, 1944), p. 10.

    3. [S504] Ohio Valley Genealogies, Charles A. Hanna, (Genealogical Publishing Co, Baltimore MD, 1989 (orig. pub. 1900)), p. 42.

    4. [S557] William Gaston: Carolinian, J. Herman Schauinger, (Bruce Publishing Company, 1949), p. 224.

    5. [S1868] The Ancestry and Descendants of Amzi Williford Gaston II (1841-1911) of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Mary Gaston Gee (1899-1987), (Charlottesville, VA, 1944), p. 11.

    6. [S1867] The Bolling-Gay-Gaston-Brawley Paper Trail with Allied Families and Friends, Dorothy Perry Brawley, (1995), p. 111.

    7. [S557] William Gaston: Carolinian, J. Herman Schauinger, (Bruce Publishing Company, 1949).