James Edward O'HARA, Congress, NC (1844-1905)

O'HARA James Edward , a Representative from North Carolina; born in New York City February 26, 1844; pursued an academic course; studied law in North Carolina and at Howard University, Washington, D.C.; engrossing clerk in the constitutional convention of North Carolina in 1868, also in the State house of representatives in 1868 and 1869; chairman of the board of commissioners for Halifax County 1872-1876; was admitted to the bar in 1873 and practiced; member of the State constitutional convention in 1875; unsuccessfully contested the election of William H. Kitchin to the Forty-sixth Congress; elected as a Republican to the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1887); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1886 to the Fiftieth Congress; resumed the practice of law in New Bern, Craven County, N.C., and died there September 15, 1905; interment in Greenwood Cemetery.

Bibliography

"James Edward O'Hara" in Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007. Prepared under the direction of the Committee on House Administration by the Office of History & Preservation, U. S. House of Representatives. Washington: Government Printing Office, 2008; Reid, George W. ``Four in Black: North Carolina's Black Congressmen, 1874-1901.'' Journal of Negro History 64 (Summer 1979): 229-43.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present

Birth Date
1844-1905