Israel Pickens, governor of Alabama, was born in Cabarrus county, N.C., Jan. 30, 1780; son of Samuel Pickens, an officer in the American army, 1776-84. He was graduated in 1802 with the first class that left Jefferson college, Canonsburg, Pa., and he settled in the practice of law in Burke county, N.C. He was a member of the house of commons of North Carolina in 1807, state senator in 1809, and Democratic representative from the twelfth North Carolina district in the 12th, 13th and 14th congresses, 1811-17. He was appointed register of the land office at St. Stephens, Mississippi Territory, which included the present state of Alabama, in 1817, and represented Washington county in the convention that framed the Alabama constitution in 1819. He was governor of Alabama, 1821-25; was appointed to the U.S. senate from Alabama to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Chambers, and served, April to December, 1826, and was appointed U.S. district judge for Alabama by President Adams in 1827, but declined on account of ill health. He died in Matanzas, Cuba, W.I., April 24, 1827.

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans 1904

Copyright © Christine Walters All Rights Reserved