Wooten, Council, 1804-1872

Council Wooten (1804-1872) was from La Grange, North Carolina where his family owned a large plantation. His father, John Wooten was a prominent landowner and politician who served in the North Carolina House of Commons. Wooten followed in his fathers footsteps and was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons six times and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1835. He is supposed to have served in the financial administration of the Confederate States of America's government, and was friend to Jefferson Davis, as well as North Carolina governors, John Ellis, Thomas Bragg, and Zebulon Vance.

Wooten was also a businessman and was one of the executive directors of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Company. He was a proponent of education and founded a private shcool near his plantation named the Wooten School. According to local legend, Wooten petitioned the General Assembly to grant free black men the right to vote. Wooten and his wife taught their slaves to read and write, and he was known for treating his slaves well. Later in life, Wooten raised his grandson, James Yadkin Joyner who would go on to become the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of North Carolina.