Senate Years of Service: 1873-1879
Party: Democrat

MERRIMON, Augustus Summerfield, (father-in-law of Lee Slater Overman), a Senator from North Carolina; born at “Cherryfields,” near Asheville, Buncombe County, N.C., September 15, 1830; received a limited education; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1852 and commenced practice in Asheville, N.C.; prosecuting attorney of Buncombe and other counties in western North Carolina; member, State house of commons 1860-1861; entered the Confederate Army upon the outbreak of the Civil War as a captain; resigned in the fall of 1861 to become solicitor for the eighth judicial district of North Carolina 1861-1865; judge of the superior court 1866-1867; settled in Raleigh, N.C., in 1867 and resumed the practice of law; declined to be a candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 1868; unsuccessful candidate for associate justice of the State supreme court in 1868; unsuccessful candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 1872; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1879; was not a candidate for renomination in 1878; resumed the practice of law at Raleigh, N.C.; associate judge of the supreme court of North Carolina 1883-1889; served as chief justice of the court from 1889 until his death in Raleigh, N.C., November 14, 1892; interment in Oakwood Cemetery.
(Source: Biographical Directory of the United States 1774-present. Image Source: North Carolina Museum of History)

AUGUSTUS SUMMERFIELD MERRIMON; of Raleigh, was born in Buncombe (now Transylvania) County, in North Carolina, September 15, 1830; he received a common-school education; studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1851, and is a practicing lawyer; was often elected county attorney in several counties; was a member of the Legislature of North Carolina in 1860-61; was Solicitor of the eighth judicial district of North Carolina from 1861 to 1865 ; was elected by the Legislature a Judge of the Superior Courts in 1866, and continued to hold that office until August, 1867, when he resigned his office rather than obey a military order, sitting as a civil judge; he was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat, to succeed John Pool, Republican, and took his seat March 4, 1873. His term of service will expire March 3, 1879.
[Source:  Forty-Third Congress Congressional Directory, Complied for the use of Congress; By Ben Perley Poore; Publ. 1872; Transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack]