1. William J Gaston was a jurist and United States Representative from North Carolina.
19 Facts About William Gaston
1. 2.
William Gaston was the author of the official state song of North Carolina, "The Old North State".
3.
William Gaston was the son of Dr Alexander Gaston and Margaret Sharpe.
4.
William Gaston entered Georgetown Academy, a Roman Catholic school in Washington, DC in 1791 at the age of thirteen, becoming its first student.
5.
William Gaston was admitted to the bar in 1798 and commenced practice in New Bern.
6.
William Gaston was a member of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1800, served in the State House of Commons from 1807 to 1809, and as its Speaker in 1808.
7.
William Gaston was a member of the North Carolina State Senate in 1812.
8.
William Gaston was elected to the US House of Representatives, on the Federalist ticket, serving from March 4,1813, to March 3,1817.
9.
In 1814, William Gaston was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society.
10.
William Gaston again served in the US House of Representatives in 1824,1827,1828,1829, and 1831.
11.
In 1832, William Gaston delivered the annual graduation address at the University of North Carolina.
12.
William Gaston was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1833; as a legislator in 1818, he had introduced the bill that established the Court as a distinct body.
13.
William Gaston wrote a decision that limited the control that slave-owners could exercise over enslaved humans.
14.
William Gaston was offered but declined a nomination for election to the United States Senate in 1840, and he turned down an offer to be US Attorney General under President Harrison.
15.
William Gaston won elective office on several occasions, even though the Constitution of North Carolina before 1835 seemed to prohibit it, because William Gaston was a Roman Catholic.
16.
William Gaston was largely responsible, as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1835, for removing official discrimination against Catholics from North Carolina law.
17.
William Gaston married on September 4,1803 Susan Hay, who died in 1804.
18.
William Gaston married on October 6,1805 Hannah McClure, who died in 1813, and with whom he had three children:.
19.
William Gaston married on September 3,1816 Eliza Ann Worthington, who died in 1819, and with whom he had two daughters:.