William Gaston (1778 - 1844) was Georgetown College's first student. He went on to be come a lawyer, politician, and judge. He entered Georgetown on November 10, 1791 but left in the spring of 1793 due to poor health. After recovering at home he eventually graduated from Princeton University in 1796.
Gaston was born on September 19, 1778 in Newberne, North Carolina to an Irish father, Dr. Alexander Gaston, and a British mother, Margaret Sharpe. His father was killed in the Revolutionary War in August, 1781. James S. Easby-Smith, the author of Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, wrote that Gaston's mother (a devout Catholic) "made the education of her son the grand object of her existence. In later years this son was often heard to declare that whatever distinction he had attained in life was due to his mother's pious counsel and faithful conduct."1
After graduating from Princeton, Gaston studied law with Francis Xavier Martin and was admitted to the bar at age twenty. In 1800 he was elected as a state senator in North Carolina. From 1808 - 1809 he served in the North Carolina House of Commons (now the North Carolina House of Representatives) and was its speaker. From 1813 to 1817 he was a United States Congressman from North Carolina, and in this capacity he passed a bill promoting Georgetown to a university in 1815. From 1827 to 1829, he again served in the North Carolina House of Commons. From 1834 until his death on January 23, 1844, he served as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. He was nominated for United States senator and United States attorney general in 1840 and 1841 respectively but declined both offers in favor of remaining a judge.2
In 1835, Gaston was instrumental in removing a clause from the North Carolina state constitution that barred Catholics from serving in some official positions in the state.3
His son, Alexander Gaston, was also a student at Georgetown, entering in 1816. Alexander's sons William F. and Hugh J. were also alumni, graduating in 1852 and 1855 respectively. Another grandson was a student in 1873.4
In 1821, Rt. Rev. John England visited Gaston for eight days in Newberne, after which he organized a Catholic congregation there and made Newberne an ecclesiastical district under the invocation of St. Paul. This made it the first Catholic mission in North Carolina.5
Gaston founded a Catholic colony in western North Carolina in Gaston County, which is named after him. Gaston Hall is also named in his honor.6 He is depicted in the northernmost bay window of Copley Hall, representing the field of law.7
His last words were reported to be: "We must believe and feel that there is a God, Allwise and Almighty!"
- 1James S. Easby-Smith, Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, its founders, benefactors, officers, instructors and alumni. Vol. 2, New York: Lewis, 1907, p. 53. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433076015860?urlappend=%3Bseq=69
- 2James S. Easby-Smith, Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, its founders, benefactors, officers, instructors and alumni. Vol. 2, New York: Lewis, 1907, pp. 53 - 55. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433076015860?urlappend=%3Bseq=69
- 3"Brief Memoirs of Old Students," Georgetown College Journal, February 1880, Vol. VIII No. 4, p. 38. http://hdl.handle.net/10822/1044327
- 4"The First Student of Georgetown," Georgetown College Journal, April 1873, Vol. I No. 5, p. 46. http://hdl.handle.net/10822/1044258
- 5"Hon. William Gaston," Georgetown College Journal, February 1899, Vol. XXVII No. 5, p. 198. http://hdl.handle.net/10822/1044517
- 6James S. Easby-Smith, Georgetown University in the District of Columbia, 1789-1907, its founders, benefactors, officers, instructors and alumni. Vol. 2, New York: Lewis, 1907, pp. 53 - 55. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433076015860?urlappend=%3Bseq=69
- 7Francis X. Ballman, "Copley Hall," Building Outlines Campus Buildings, 1789 – 1995, Father Lawrence Hurley Memorial Edition, Francis X. Ballmann and the Division of Facilities, 1995, p. 10.
