Gunning BEDFORD, Jr., Congress, DE (1747-1812)

BEDFORD, Gunning, Jr., (cousin of Gunning Bedford), a Delegate from Delaware; born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1747; was graduated from Princeton College in 1771; studied law in Philadelphia; was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1779 and commenced practice in Dover, Del.; moved to Wilmington, Del.; Member of the Continental Congress 1783-1785; appointed attorney general of the State on April 26, 1784, and served until September 26, 1789; appointed a commissioner to the convention held at Annapolis, Md., in September 1786 but did not attend; member of the Federal constitutional convention at Philadelphia in 1787 and signed the Constitution; delegate to the State convention that ratified the Federal Constitution in 1787; member of the State senate in 1788; appointed United States judge for the district of Delaware September 26, 1789, which position he held until his death in Wilmington, Del., March 30, 1812; interment in First Presbyterian Churchyard; reinterment at the Masonic Home of Delaware, on Lancaster Pike, two miles west of Wilmington, Del.

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