Graham, William Alexander

Life Span
to
    Full name
    William Alexander Graham
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    South
    Origins
    Slave State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    10
    Family
    Joseph Graham (father), Isabella Davidson (mother), Susannah Sarah Washington (wife)
    Education
    University of North Carolina
    Occupation
    Politician
    Attorney or Judge
    Relation to Slavery
    Slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Whig
    Government
    Fillmore Administration (1850-53)
    Confederate government (1861-65)
    US Senate
    Governor
    State legislature

    William Alexander Graham (Congressional Biographical Directory)

    Reference
    GRAHAM, William Alexander,  (brother of James Graham), a Senator from North Carolina; born at Vesuvius Furnace, near Lincolnton, Lincoln County, N.C., September 5, 1804; pursued classical studies and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1824; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1825 and commenced practice in Hillsboro, N.C.; member, State house of commons 1833-1840, serving twice as speaker; elected as a Whig to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Robert Strange and served from November 25, 1840, to March 3, 1843; chairman, Committee on Claims (Twenty-seventh Congress); Governor of North Carolina 1845-1849; declined the missions to Spain and Russia in 1849; Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Millard Fillmore 1850-1852; unsuccessful Whig candidate for vice president in 1852 on the ticket with Winfield Scott; member, State senate 1854-1866, including service in the state Confederate Congress; elected to the United States Senate in 1866, but his credentials were not presented; member of the board of trustees of the Peabody Fund 1867-1875; arbitrator in the boundary line dispute between Virginia and Maryland 1873-1875; died at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., August 11, 1875; interment in the Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Hillsboro, N.C.
    “Graham, William Alexander,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present,http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000362.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Williams, Max R. "Secretary William A. Graham, Naval Administrator, 1850-1852." North Carolina Historical Review 48, no. 1 (1971): 53-72. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Graham, William Alexander," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/5767.