Venable, A. W. (Abraham Watkins), 1799-1876

Abraham Watkins Venable (1799-1876), the son of Mary S. Carrington and Samuel Woodson Venable, was born in Prince Edward County, Va.; educated at Hampden Sydney and Princeton; became a lawyer; and in 1824 married Isabella Alston Brown of Granville County, N.C. Venable moved to North Carolina in 1829 and became active in politics as a Democrat, serving as a presidential elector in 1832 and 1836 and in the United States House of Representatives, March 1847-March 1853, representing the fifth congressional district of North Carolina. After congressional redistricting in 1852, Granville County was in the new fourth district, which he failed to win. Venable was a presidential elector on the Breckinridge-Lane ticket in 1860; a delegate from North Carolina to the Provisional Confederate Congress; and a member of the Confederate House of Representatives, 1862-1864. He died in Oxford, N.C., on 24 February 1876.

From the description of A. W. Venable papers, 1847-1872. WorldCat record id: 25678019

Lawyer, U.S. representative, 1847-1853, and C.S.A. congressman; from Brownsville (Granville Co.), N.C.

From the description of Scrapbook, 1849-1851. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 20460660

Abraham Watkins Venable (1799-1876), the son of Mary S. Carrington and Samuel Woodson Venable, was born at Springfield, Prince Edward County, Va.; educated at Hampden Sydney and Princeton; became a lawyer; and in 1824 married Isabella Alston Brown, daughter of Dr. Thomas Brown, physician of Brownsville in Granville County, N.C. Venable moved to North Carolina in 1829 and became active in politics as a Democrat, serving as a presidential elector in 1832 and 1836 and in the United States House of Representatives, March 1847 to March 1853, representing the fifth congressional district of North Carolina (Granville, Person, Caswell, Orange, and Chatham counties). After congressional redistricting in 1852, Venable's home county, Granville, was in the new fourth district, the other counties being Wake, Franklin, Warren, Orange, and Johnston. Venable announced himself a candidate for re-election prior to the meeting of the Democratic Party convention of the district. When the convention did not endorse him but nominated instead A. M. Lewis, he ran anyway, producing a three-cornered race won by the Whig, Sion H. Rogers. In 1855, Venable's name was again presented to the convention, but for a second time the convention nominated another, G. W. Thompson, who declined to run. Lawrence O'Bryan Branch was then nominated, Venable did not run, and Branch won. Venable was a presidential elector on the Breckinridge-Lane ticket in 1860; a delegate from North Carolina to the Provisional Confederate Congress; and a member of the Confederate House of Representatives, 1862-1864. He died in Oxford, N.C., on 24 February 1876.

The Biographical Directory of the American Congress has a brief sketch of Venable's life, and he and his family are discused in Alice Read Rouse's The Reads and their Relatives (1930).

From the guide to the A. W. Venable Papers, 1847-1872, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)