Bedford Brown

Bedford Brown (June 6, 1795 – December 6, 1870) was a Democratic United States Senator from the State of North Carolina between 1829 and 1840.[1]

Bedford Brown
United States Senator
from North Carolina
In office
December 9, 1829 – November 16, 1840
Preceded byJohn Branch
Succeeded byWillie P. Mangum
Member of the North Carolina Senate
In office
1828–1828
1858–1860
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons
In office
1815–1817
1823
Personal details
Born(1795-06-06)June 6, 1795
Caswell County, North Carolina
DiedDecember 6, 1870(1870-12-06) (aged 75)
Caswell County, North Carolina
Political partyDemocratic

Biography

Bedford Brown was born on June 6, 1795 in what now is Locust Hill Township, Caswell County, North Carolina. His parents were Jethro Brown and Lucy Williamson Brown. After attending the University of North Carolina for one year, Brown was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons.[1]

On July 13, 1816, Brown married Mary Lumpkin Glenn. The couple had seven children.[1]

In 1828, upon the death of Bartlett Yancey, Jr., Brown was chosen in a special election to replace Yancey in the North Carolina Senate. Like Bartlett Yancey, Jr., before him, Brown was elected Speaker of the North Carolina Senate.

In 1829, he was elected as a Jacksonian (the party that would become the Democratic Party) to succeed John Branch as a United States Senator from North Carolina. In the Senate, he chaired several committees, including the Agriculture Committee. Brown resigned his seat in 1840 due to a dispute with the state legislature. He was elected to the state Senate again in 1842, before spending some years out of the state.

Leading up to the Civil War, Brown, a state senator again from 1858 to 1860, counseled in favor of North Carolina's remaining in the Union. However, after President Lincoln requested troops from North Carolina to serve in the Union Army, Brown, along with most of his colleagues, supported secession.

In 1868 Brown, still, a Democrat was again elected to the North Carolina Senate. However, the Reconstruction Republicans controlled the North Carolina Legislature and refused to seat Brown. He was replaced by Republican John W. Stephens.

Brown was buried on the grounds at Rose Hill just outside Yanceyville, North Carolina.[2] Rose Hill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[3]

Footnotes
  1. Jones, H. G. (1979). "Bedford Brown". NCPedia. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  2. Survey and Planning Unit (September 1973). "Rose Hill" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  3. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

Further reading
  • H.G. Jones, "Bedford Brown" in William S. Powell (ed.), Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1979; pp. 240-241.
  • Houston G. Jones, "Bedford Brown: States' Rights Unionist," North Carolina Historical Review, vol. 32 (1955).
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
John Branch		 U.S. senator (Class 2) from North Carolina
1829–1840
Served alongside: James Iredell, Jr., Willie P. Mangum, Robert Strange		 Succeeded by
Willie P. Mangum
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