Congressman John Stanly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stanly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stanly_(politician)
John Stanly (9 April 1774 – 2 August 1834) was a Federalist U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1801 and 1803 and again between 1809 and 1811.

Stanly, the son of John Wright Stanly, was born in New Bern, North Carolina, and educated by private tutors before attending Princeton University. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1799. After practicing law and serving as a clerk and master in equity, Stanly was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons in 1798 and 1799.

In 1800, Stanly was elected as a Federalist to the 7th United States Congress (March 4, 1801 – March 3, 1803); he served again in the 11th Congress (March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1811) before returning to the practice of law. Stanly returned to the state house for several more terms, in 1812–1815, 1818–1819, and 1823–1825. He died in New Bern in 1834 and is buried in the local Episcopal Cemetery. He is also known for killing Richard Dobbs Spaight, a signer of the Constitution, in a famous duel in 1802. As a result of the duel, North Carolina outlawed duelling in the state.

Stanly County, North Carolina was formed in 1841, and named in his honor.

GEDCOM Note

John Wright Stanly (father of this profile)

1742‑1781

The following was taken from A Rough Road in a Good Land, Dictionary of American Biography and information obtained from the North Carolina State Library, Genealogy Division.

John Wright Stanly was born 1742 in Charles City County,Virginia, the son of Dancy and Elizabeth Wright Stanly. Other children of Dancyand Elizabeth Stanly were Dancy, Jr., Richard Dancy, Susannah, and Wright whowas born in 1751.

By tradition, Dancy Stanly was the son of Major John Stanly of Talbot County, Maryland. Major John Stanly is said to be the son of WilliamStanly, also of Talbot County, who was a direct descendant of the Earl ofDerby.

John is established as having fourteen children, nine of whichcan be accounted for by the North Carolina State Library: John, born 1774; Ann, 1775; Lydia, 1777; Richard, 1778; Wright, 1779; Alexander Hamilton; Fabius;Frank, who lived at Danville, Virginia; and Major Alfred, of Alabama who wastouted as being a Confederate Guerrilla. Of the other five children, one is mentioned below, Thomas.

John Wright Stanly settled in New Bern, North Carolina in 1773 after failing in a business venture in Honduras. (He had been put in jail in Philadelphia in 1772 for bad debts.) He prospered after settling in Craven County, and built a house in New Bern that cost $20,000. This house stillstands as a public library and showplace. He owned thirteen privateers; one ofthem named the General Nash was famous on the high seas during the War of 1812. He lost most of his ships to the British Navy during the war. He acquired a large wharf and distillery, and owned sixty‑nine slaves, which made himone of the largest slaveholders in North America. Stanly County, North Carolina was named for him. He had wealth, position and influence in North Carolina. Hedied at the age of forty‑seven.

In 1802 his son John Wright Stanly, who at age twenty‑three had already held office in his county killed in a duel ex‑Governor Richard Dobbs Spaugh, age fifty‑five, over political views. The duel was fought behind the present Masonic Lodge Hallin New Bern. Each man used a one‑shot flintlock pistol. Each man reloaded and fired four times. Stanly had a bullet in his coat collar. On the fourthshot, the ex‑Governor was killed. The duel destroyed the good name ofStanly in North Carolina since Spaugh was a very popular man.

Another son, Thomas Stanly, sitting at a banquet table in New Bern, was insulted when a piece of bread thrown across the table fell in hiscup of tea and splashed tea on his vest. He challenged the bread thrower, Louis D. Henry, and was killed in the duel that followed.

Edward Stanly, son of John Wright Stanley II, took the side ofthe Union in the Civil War in 1860. There was some confusion about the State ofNorth Carolina remaining in the Union, and President Lincoln appointed himacting Governor. The state had a strong elected governor in the personality ofZeb Vance, and no one paid any attention to Stanly's appointment. Edward Stanly, in disgust, left the state and moved to California. He was elected to Congress from a western state. While serving in the Congress, he fought one ofthe last duels ever fought by an office holder in the United States.

Find A Grave;https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8586199/john-stanly

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Sep 22 2022, 21:32:25 UTC

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• http://www.genealogybuff.com/nc/nc-state-mar.htm (Marriage date)

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