Search site Search nc.gov

home >> history and culture >> nc's governors

For info on the NC recovery plan visit Bev Perdue's

Search state contracts and grants on North Carolina's newest transparency website

A resource for anyone looking for a job, a new career, or to expand or create a business in North Carolina

North Carolina for Kids!

What you need to know about H1N1 and how to be prepared for this flu season

For information on the State Employees’ MLK Day Observance Program

Career and College

Governors of North Carolina

From the Roanoke colonies of the 1580s to the 21st century, ninety-nine men and one woman have served as Governor of North Carolina. Our current governor, Bev Perdue is the 73rd governor since statehood. Below is a chronological list of the governors since 1776 along with a short biography. The stories of these historic figures constitute a prism through which to view Tar Heel history.

Richard Caswell 1776-1780; 1784-1787	Abner Nash 1780-1781	Thomas Burke 1781-1782	Alexander Martin 1782-1784; 1789-1792
Samuel Johnston 1787-1789	Richard Dobbs Spaight 1792-1795	Samuel Ashe 1795-1798	William Richardson Davie 1798-1799
Benjamin Williams 1799-1802; 1807-1808	James Turner 1802-1805	Nathaniel Alexander 1805-1807	David Stone 1808-1810
Benjamin Smith 1810-1811	William Hawkins 1811-1814	William Miller 1814-1817	John Branch 1817-1820
Jesse Franklin 1820-1821	Gabriel Holmes 1821-1824	Hutchins Gordon Burton 1824-1827	James Iredell Jr. 1827-1828
John Owen 1828-1830	Montfort Stokes 1830-1832	David Lowry Swain 1832-1835	Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr. 1835-1836
Edward Bishop Dudley 1836-1841	John Motley Morehead 1841-1845	William Alexander Graham 1845-1849	Charles Manly 1849-1851
David Settle Reid 1851-1854	Warren Winslow 1854-1855	Thomas Bragg 1855-1859	John Willis Ellis 1859-1861
Henry Toole Clark 1861-1862	Zebulon Baird Vance 1862-1865; 1877-1879	William Woods Holden 1865; 1868-1871	Jonathan Worth 1865-1868
Tod Robinson Caldwell 1871-1874	Curtis Hooks Brogden 1874-1877	Thomas Jordan Jarvis 1879-1885	Alfred Moore Scales 1885-1889
Daniel Gould Fowle 1889-1891	Thomas Michael Holt 1891-1893	Elias Carr 1893-1897	Daniel Lindsay Russell Jr. 1897-1901
Charles Brantley Aycock 1901-1905	Robert Brodnax Glenn 1905-1909	William Walton Kitchin 1909-1913	Locke Craig 1913-1917
Thomas Walter Bickett 1917-1921	Cameron Morrison 1921-1925	Angus Wilton Mclean 1925-1929	Oliver Maxwell Gardner 1929-1933
J. C. B. Ehringhaus 1933-1937	Clyde Roark Hoey 1937-1941	Joseph Melville Broughton 1941-1945	Robert Gregg Cherry 1945-1949
William Kerr Scott 1949-1953	William Bradley Umstead 1953-1954	Luther Hartwell Hodges 1954-1961	Terry Sanford 1961-1965
Daniel Killian Moore 1965-1969	Robert Walter Scott 1969-1973	James Eubert Holshouser, Jr. 1973-1977	James Baxter Hunt, Jr. 1977-1985; 1993-2001
James Grubbs Martin 1985-1993	Michael Francis Easley 2001-2009

Thank you to the Department of Cultural Resources for compiling these biographies.