Edward Bishop DUDLEY, Congress, NC (1789-1855)

DUDLEY, Edward Bishop, a Representative from North Carolina; born near Jacksonville, Onslow County, N.C., December 15, 1789; attended the local academy; member of the State house of commons 1811 and 1813; served in the State senate in 1814; during the War of 1812, served as lieutenant colonel of the Onslow Regiment of Volunteers; member of the State house of commons from Wilmington in 1816 and 1817; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Gabriel Holmes and served from November 10, 1829, to March 3, 1831; declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1830; again a member of the State house of commons in 1834 and 1835; organized the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad Co. and was its first president; Governor of North Carolina 1837-1841, being the first Governor elected by popular vote instead of by the legislature; resumed his former railroad pursuits; died in Wilmington, N.C., October 30, 1855; interment in Oak Dale Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present