YEATES, Jesse Johnson, a Representative from North Carolina; born near Murfreesboro, Hertford County, N.C., May 29, 1829; attended private schools and Emory and Henry College, Emory, Va.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1855 and commenced practice in Murfreesboro; prosecuting attorney of Hertford County 1855-1860; member of the State house of commons 1860-1862; solicitor of the first judicial district 1860-1866; served in the Confederate Army as captain and major of the Thirty-first North Carolina Infantry during the Civil War; member of the Governor’s council during Governor Worth’s administration; declined appointment by Governor Holden as judge of the first judicial district in 1868; delegate to the Democratic State convention in 1871; member of the State constitutional convention in 1871; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1879); successfully contested the election of Joseph J. Martin to the Forty-sixth Congress and served from January 29 to March 3, 1881; declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1880; resumed the practice of his profession in Washington, D.C., and died there on September 5, 1892; interment in Glenwood Cemetery.
(Source: Biographical Directory of the United States 1774-present.)

YEATES, Jesse J., lawyer, was born in Hertford county, N. C, May 29. 1829, son of James and Lucretia I Johnson) Yeates, and grandson of Jesse Yeates (or Yates), who was a private in the revolutionary war and a captain in the war of 1812. He was educated at Emory and Henry College, where he won a medal for declamation. After teaching school for two years, he read law in the office of W. N. H. Smith, of Murfreesboro, N. C, and after being admitted to the bar began the practice of his profession in that place. He was state solicitor for the first judicial district of North Carolina, and subsequently represented Hertford county in the state legislature. During the discussion of the question of secession, he introduced in the house a bill declaring that North Carolina should remain in the Union. This bill was passed, but soon afterward a popular convention decided that the state should secede. Mr. Yeates organized a company for the service of the Confederacy, of which he was captain, and later became major of the 31st regiment, North Carolina state troops. Retiring from active service, he became agent for the collection and distribution of supplies to the Confederate troops. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1871, and in 1874 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the United States congress. He served in the 44th, 45th and 46th congresses, and was especially engaged in securing appropriations for improvements in the life-saving and light-house service in his district, and he also did much to foster and promote the United States fish commission. At the expiration of his term in congress he practiced law in Washington, D. C. He was married in 1848 to Maria E. Piper, of Cedarville, N. C, and in 1855 to Virginia, daughter of James A. Scott, of Murfreesboro, N. C. He died in Washington, D. C, Sept. 4, 1892, survived by three sons and two daughters.
(Source: National cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. XIII. Published 1906.)

YEATES, JESSE J., soldier, lawyer, congressman, was born May 29, 1829, in Hertford County, N. C. He was solicitor of Hertford County from 1855 to 1860 and a representative in the North Carolina state legislature in 1860. He served as major in the confederate army. He was elected a representative from North Carolina to the forty-fourth congress and reelected to the forty-fifth congress.
[Herringshaw's encyclopedia of American biography of the nineteenth century; Edited by Thomas William Herringshaw; Publ. 1901; Donated and Transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack]