William C. C. Claiborne, US Congressman & 1st Governor of Louisiana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C.C._Claiborne

For more information: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=claiborne&GSf...

William Charles Cole Claiborne (b. before 23 November 1772,[1] or on 13 August 1773,[2] or between 23 November 1773 and 23 November 1774,[3] or in August 1775[4] – d. 23 November 1817) was a United States politician, best known as the first Governor of Louisiana. He also has the distinction of possibly being the youngest Congressman in U.S. history, though reliable sources differ about his age.

Thomas Jefferson sent Mississippi Territorial Governor William C. C. Claiborne to New Orleans to formally accept the transfer of Louisiana from France to the United States. Claiborne was assisted by General James Wilkinson in administering the territory until the President named him the first Governor of the Territory of Orleans which is now the state of Louisiana. Claiborne held the office of Territorial Governor through the admission of Louisiana to the Union in 1812.

Before statehood, he presided over a Legislative Council which divided Louisiana into parishes, adopted a civil code and organized a public education system.

Claiborne's attempts to incorporate the Creole natives of Louisiana into a more democratic system included dividing juries between English-speaking and French-speaking people, conducting court in both English and French and publishing the civil code in each languages.

In 1811, Congress authorized Louisiana to draft a state constitution which was approved in 1812. Within weeks, the U.S. declared war on Great Britain. Claiborne organized the state militia and received information from Jean Lafitte about British plans to invade Louisiana. Claiborne and General Andrew Jackson worked together closely to prepare New Orleans,for British attack. After the Battle of Lake Borgne made Jackson aware of the British-position, he prepared a line of defense on the New Orleans side of the Chalmette Canal where the British were decisively defeated on January 8, 1815.

Claiborne had defeated Creole Jacques Villere to become the first elected governor of the State of Louisiana. He had to work all the harder to win the Creoles' allegiance to democratic government during the tough economic times caused by the British blockade of the Mississippi River. By the time Claiborne left office to secure a seat in the U.S. Senate, he had won the loyalty of the Creoles, including Villere. He died in 1817 at the age of 42.

William Charles Cole CLAIBORNE  Sex: M  Birth: 13 AUG 1773 in Sussex Co., VA  Event: Appointed 1796 Tennessee Supreme Court  Event: Elected U.S. House of Representative from Tennessee BET 1797 AND 1801  Event: Appointed Governor of Mississippi Territory BET 1801 AND 1805 Governor of Mississippi Territory  Event: Appointed BET 1803 AND 1812 Governor of Territory of Orleans  Event: Elected Governor of Louisiana BET 1812 AND 1816  Death: 23 NOV 1817 in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA  Event: Elected U.S. Senator from Louisiana 1817  Title: Gov. 

CLAIBORNE, William Charles Cole, (brother of Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne, nephew of Thomas Claiborne [1749-1812], uncle of John Francis Hamtramck Claiborne, granduncle of James Robert Claiborne, and great-great-great granduncle of Corinne Claiborne Boggs), a Representative from Tennessee and a Senator from Louisiana; born in Sussex County, Va., in 1775; moved in early youth to New York City; studied law in Richmond, Va.; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Sullivan County, Tenn.; delegate to the State constitutional convention from Sullivan County in 1796; appointed judge of the superior court in 1796; elected as a Republican from Tennessee to the Fifth and Sixth Congresses, and served from November 23, 1797, to March 3, 1801, in spite of the fact that he was still initially under the constitutional age requirement of twenty-five years; appointed Governor of the Territory of Mississippi in 1801; appointed in October 1803 one of the commissioners to take possession of Louisiana when purchased from France and served as Governor of the Territory of Orleans 1804-1812; Governor of Louisiana 1812-1816; elected as a Democratic Republican from Louisiana to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1817, until his death, before the assembling of Congress, in New Orleans, La., November 23, 1817; interment in Basin St. Louis Cemetery; reinterment in Metairie Cemetery. --- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

For more information, click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C.C._Claiborne; and http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dowfam3&id=I231960