Hezekiah Alexander Gudger (1849-1917)

Hezekiah Alexander Gudger (1849-1917) of Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Born in Marshall, Madison County, North Carolina 27 May 1849. Son of Joseph Jackson Gudger and Sarah Emaline (Barnard) Gudger; married 10 August 1875 Jennie Hardy Smith (1854-1943); brother of James Madison Gudger, Jr.; uncle of Katherine Gudger Langley.

Republican. Lawyer. Member of North Carolina House of Representatives 1873-1876; member of North Carolina Senate 1885; candidate for Presidential Elector for North Carolina, 1896; U.S. Consul General in Panama, 1897-1905; Justice, Canal Zone Supreme Court 1905-14; Chief Justice, 1909-1914. Methodist.

Member, Freemasons. Died in Beaverdam, Buncombe County, North Carolina 22 September 1917 (age 68 years, 118 days). Interment at Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, North Carolina.

Allen Turner Davidson(1819-1905)

Allen Turner Davidson (1819-1905)

In the group photograph Jefferson Davis is in the center, with Allen Turner Davidson to the left. Click on photograph for a larger image.

Allen Turner Davidson (9 May 1819 - 24 January 1905), lawyer, Confederate congressman, and member of the Council of State, was born in Haywood County, the son of William Mitchell, a Burke County farmer, and Betsy Vance Davidson. His grandfather was Major was Major William Davidson, an officer in the American Revolution. Captain David Vance, also an officer in the Revolution, was his maternal grandfather. Both men fought as patriots. Young Davidson's mother was the aunt of Zebulon B. Vance. He was educated in the "old fields" schools of Haywood County and at Waynesboro Academy.

At the age of twenty, Davidson began working in his father's general store. The following year he was commissioned a colonel in the state militia. Shortly thereafter he began to study law under Michael Francis. In 1843, while still a student, he was appointed clerk and master of equity for Haywood County, an office from which he resigned in the spring of 1846. On 1 January 1845, he was admitted to the North Carolina bar and moved to Murphy to begin his law practice as a solicitor for Cherokee County.