Judge William Gaston, (19 Sept. 1778 - 23 Jan. 1844) Collection available as part of the Gaston County Public Library Digital History Collection.
William Gaston, lawyer, legislator, congressman. Includes research by Jerry Bostic, Gaston County educator, curriculum director, and administrator.
The Georgetown Slavery Archive.
"William Gaston (1778-1844) was Georgetown's first student, enrolling in the school in 1791 before transferring to Princeton. As a congressman from North Carolina, Gaston sponsored the charter that granted Georgetown the authority to award academic degrees. He became a prominent jurist, serving on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Georgetown's flagship lecture hall, Gaston Hall, is named after him."
- William Gaston & Slavery: A Conversation between Professor John Mikhail and Professor Adam Rothman. Audio recording and transcript of a conversation between Georgetown Law Center's Professor John Mikhail and Georgetown University historian Professor Adam Rothman about Mikhail's research into William Gaston's slaveholding and judicial opinions concerning slavery.
- Slaveholding and Judicial Opinions of William Gaston (2022)
"This entry presents research materials from Georgetown Law Professor John Mikhail documenting William Gaston's slaveholding and interpreting Gaston's jurisprudence with respect to slavery and free people of color. This PDF includes a letter from Professor Mikhail to Georgetown University President John DeGioia dated September 8, 2022, summarizing his research findings, along with" enclosures.
- Inventory of William Gaston's estate, April 19, 1844. At the time of his death, William Gaston owned at least 163 people. They are identified by name and age in an 1844 estate inventory drawn up after Gaston's death. Some of their family relationships are indicated in the inventory, along with sparse other information. The list of people named in the inventory can be found on pages 8-12. Family groups appear to be set apart in the list of names in the inventory. The inventory skips #139 "in the country", and an additional five names are included in the inventory but crossed out.
The names were transcribed by John Mikhail and Adam Rothman, with assistance from Jackson Edwards and Bassel Jamali.
- William Gaston entrusts Augustus to Joseph Carberry, S.J., 1824 Letter from William Gaston to Joseph Carberry, S.J., giving him a slave named Augustus to be educated and then freed, September 1, 1824.