State of North Carolina Office of Governor Bev Perdue
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North Carolina's Governors

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		    

NC Museum of History Department of Cultural Resources NC Historic Sites

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