Matthew Locke (U.S. Congress)

Matthew Locke (1730 – September 7, 1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War, a wagon driver, and an U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1793 and 1799.

Personal and early Life

Locke was born to John Locke (1700, England –c.1744, Lancaster, Pennsylvania) and his wife Elizabeth (c.1705, England –1760, Rowan County, North Carolina) in the north of Ireland, from where his family migrated to America. They eventually settled in Anson County, North Carolina (in an area now part of Rowan County). He was married to Mary (née Brandon) Locke (b. 1735) sometime around 1749.

Locke was the brother of Francis Locke, and the uncle of North Carolina Senator Francis Locke, Jr. He was the great-great-great-grandfather of Arkansas Representative Effiegene Locke Wingo.

Work in government

Locke was named treasury commissioner of the Province of North Carolina in 1771, and elected a member of the safety committee of Rowan County on August 8, 1774; and to the committee of secrecy, intelligence, and observation of Rowan County on September 23, 1774. He was the paymaster of troops in the Salisbury District in 1775. Locke was a brigadier general of the North Carolina militia during the American War of Independence.

Political career

Locke was a delegate to the Provincial Congresses in Hillsborough, North Carolina and Johnston Court House in 1775. He was a member of the Colonial Congress at Halifax in 1776, and a delegate to the state Constitutional Convention of 1776. He served several terms in the legislature, including periods in the North Carolina House of Commons from 1777 to 1781, the North Carolina Senate from 1781 to 1782, and in the House of Commons again from 1783 to 1792. Locke was a delegate to the 1789 state Constitutional Convention called to consider ratification of the United States Constitution. Locke voted against ratification.

Affiliated with the United States Democratic-Republican Party, Locke was elected to the 3rd United States Congress in 1792 and served for three consecutive terms (March 4, 1793 - March 3, 1799).

Later life

Locke married Philadelphia widow, Elizabeth Towers Gostelowe, in 1798,^[1] before being defeated for re-election.

After retiring from Congress, Locke was engaged as a planter and was an extensive landowner; he died in Salisbury, North Carolina on September 7, 1801, aged 71 years.^[2] He is buried in the Thyatira Churchyard, near Salisbury.

References

• United States Congress. "Matthew Locke (id: L000389)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.