Thomas Samuel Ashe
Confederate Congressman, North Carolina, 1861-1864
U. S. Congressman, North Carolina, 1873-1877
Born: July 21, 1812, Hawfields, near Graham, Alamance County (then a part of Orange County), North Carolina.
Died: February 4, 1887, Wadesboro, North Carolina.
- Attended Bingham's Academy, Hillsboro, N. C.
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, graduate, 1832.
- Studied law, 1832-1834.
- Admitted to the bar, 1834, and commenced practice in Wadesboro, Anson County, North Carolina, 1835.
- Member of the North Carolina State House of Commons, 1842.
- Solicitor of the Fifth Judicial District of North Carolina, 1847-1851.
- Elected to the North Carolina State Senate, 1854.
- Member of the Confederate House of Representatives, 1861-1864.
- Elected to the Confederate Senate, 1864, but did not serve due to the termination of the Civil War.
- Served as North Carolina State Councilor, 1866.
- Unsuccessful candidate for Governor, North Carolina, 1868.
- Elected as a Conservative to the Forty-third U. S. Congress and as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth U. S. Congress, March 4, 1873-March 3, 1877.
- Declined to be a candidate for renomination, 1876.
- Resumed the practice of law at Wadesboro, North Carolina.
- Elected Associate Justice of the North Carolina State Supreme Court, 1878.
- Re-elected in 1886 for a term of eight years and served until his death.
Buried: East View Cemetery, Wadesboro, North Carolina.
(Source: U.S. Congress. House. Biographical Directory Of The American Congress 1774-1949, 85th Cong., 2nd sess., H. Doc. 607 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950), pp. 759-2057.)