Representative Archibald McBryde

Archibald McBryde (September 28, 1766 – February 15, 1837) was a Scottish-born American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as a Federalist member of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina’s 7th congressional district. He was born in Wigtownshire, Scotland, to James McBryde (1737–1783) and Janet McMiken McBryde (1736–1814). In 1775, amid the upheavals of the American Revolutionary era, he immigrated with his parents and siblings to the American colonies, sailing aboard the ship Jackie (formerly the Stanraer). The family settled in Carbonton, in what became Chatham County, North Carolina, where McBryde would spend most of his life and establish his legal and political career.

McBryde received his early education under private teachers in North Carolina, reflecting the educational patterns of professional families in the late eighteenth century. He subsequently studied law, preparing for a career in the legal profession at a time when formal law schools were rare and most training occurred through apprenticeship and self-directed study. After completing his legal preparation, he was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in North Carolina, building a reputation that led to a series of local judicial and administrative appointments.

McBryde’s public career began at the county level in Moore County, North Carolina. He first served as deputy clerk of Moore County from 1790 to 1792, an office that involved maintaining court records and assisting in the administration of local justice. In 1792 he became clerk of the superior court of Moore County, a position he held for an extended period from 1792 to 1816. Concurrently, he served as a justice of the peace in Moore County from 1792 to 1808, exercising important judicial and administrative functions in local governance. These roles placed him at the center of county legal affairs during the formative years of the new republic and provided the foundation for his later state and national political service.

As a member of the Federalist Party representing North Carolina, McBryde advanced to national office when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He was chosen as a Federalist to the Eleventh and Twelfth Congresses and served two consecutive terms from March 4, 1809, to March 3, 1813, representing North Carolina’s 7th congressional district. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, marked by escalating tensions with Great Britain and debates over trade restrictions and national sovereignty. During his terms he joined other North Carolina Federalists in opposing President James Madison’s foreign trade policies, particularly the embargo and non-intercourse measures that affected Southern commerce. He also voted against the declaration of war against Great Britain prior to the War of 1812, aligning with Federalist skepticism about the conflict and its potential economic and constitutional consequences. In these years he contributed to the legislative process and participated in the democratic governance of the early United States, representing the interests of his constituents in a time of national crisis.

After leaving Congress in 1813, McBryde continued his political involvement at the state level. He was elected as a senator in the North Carolina General Assembly and served in that capacity in 1813 and 1814. His tenure in the state senate extended his influence over North Carolina’s legislative affairs during and immediately after the War of 1812, a period when the state confronted issues of wartime finance, militia organization, and postwar economic adjustment. Following his service in the General Assembly, McBryde returned to his legal practice, resuming the work of a country lawyer in Carbonton while maintaining the social and political connections he had developed over decades of public service.

In his personal life, McBryde married Lydia Ramsey (1777–1861) in 1796. She was the daughter of Colonel John Ambrose Ramsey, then county clerk of Chatham County, and Sarah Elizabeth Birdsong, linking McBryde by marriage to another prominent North Carolina public family. Archibald and Lydia McBryde had ten children who survived infancy: Janette (1799–1824), who married William Hayes; Nancy Ann (1801–1862), who first married Reverend Kenneth McIver and later married Green Womack, son of John Womack, a representative in the North Carolina legislature from Caswell County; Mary Nancy (1803–1857), who first married Benjamin Williams, son of Benjamin Williams, the 11th and 14th Governor of North Carolina, and later married Dr. Charles Chalmers; James (born 1805), who never married; Eliza Winslow (1808–1869), who first married Dr. Archibald McQueen and later married John Pemberton DeJarnette, with whom she had issue; Frances (born 1809), who married William Pickett DeJarnette; Archibald W. “Archie” McBryde Jr. (1812–1874), who married Julia Holmes, daughter of Gabriel Holmes, the 21st Governor of North Carolina and father of Confederate Lieutenant General Theophilus H. Holmes; Lydia (1813–1866), who married Donald Street, whose uncle Hugh McQueen served as Attorney General of North Carolina and whose son Hugh McQueen Street later served in the Mississippi House of Representatives; Sarah Tyson (1817–1884), who married James Alston; and William Martin (1819–1878), who married Sarah Francis Grigsby. Through these marriages, the McBryde family became closely connected to several influential political and professional families in North Carolina and the broader South.

McBryde and his family were substantial slaveholders, and enslaved labor formed a significant part of their household and economic life. At the time of his wife Lydia’s death in 1861, records indicate that the family owned at least seven enslaved people. In her will, three of these individuals were bequeathed to their son Archibald McBryde Jr., and four were willed to their son William Martin McBryde, illustrating the transmission of enslaved property across generations within the family. McBryde was a Presbyterian, reflecting the religious affiliations common among many Scots and Scots-Irish settlers in the region and shaping the family’s religious and social life in Carbonton and its environs.

Archibald McBryde continued to practice law in North Carolina after his legislative service until his death. He died in Carbonton and was interred in Farrar Cemetery. While his death has sometimes been reported as occurring in February 1836, contemporary records provide strong evidence for a later date. Proceedings of the North Carolina Supreme Court indicate that he was still alive in September 1836, and an 1841 statement written by his widow Lydia supports February 15, 1837, as the correct date of his death. Following his death, his widow and some of their children relocated to Madison County, Tennessee, where their daughter Nancy Ann was living with her husband Green Womack. Through his legal career, his service in county offices, the United States Congress, and the North Carolina General Assembly, and through the extensive familial and political connections of his descendants, McBryde remained a notable figure in the civic and political life of early North Carolina.