Samuel Ashe

Samuel Ashe (March 24, 1725February 3, 1813) was the ninth governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1795 to 1798. He was also one of the first three judges of the North Carolina Superior Court in 1787. Life story Ashe was born in Beaufort in the Province of North Carolina. His father, John Baptista Ashe, and brother, John Ashe, both served as Speaker of the North Carolina Assembly, or House of Burgesses. Ashe became an orphan at the age of nine. He married Mary Porter in 1748; they had three children, including John Baptista Ashe, who would serve in the Continental Congress. After Mary died, Ashe remarried, this time to the former Elizabeth Merrik. Ashe studied law and was named Assistant Attorney for the Crown in the Wilmington district of the colony. He became involved in the revolutionary movement and served in the North Carolina Provincial Congress and as a member of the North Carolina militia. For a little more than one month in 1776, Ashe served as president of the Council of Safety, the state's executive authority. He was also appointed to the committee that drafted the first Constitution of North Carolina. In 1776, he was elected to the new North Carolina Senate and was elected its first speaker. The following year, Ashe was appointed presiding judge of the state Superior Court, a post he held until 1795.