US Congressman. A prominent Reconstruction-era politician, he represented North Carolina in the first session of Congress after that state was readmitted to the Union in 1868. Heaton was born in Hamilton, Ohio. He was a practicing attorney when elected to his first public office, the Ohio State Senate (1855). Two years later he moved to Minnesota and was a State Senator there for six terms (1858 to 1863). The Civil War changed the course of his career. In 1863 Heaton was named a special agent of the Treasury Department and dispatched to the Union-occupied city of New Bern in Confederate North Carolina; he chose to remain there after the war, turning down a promotion in the US Treasury to do so. A staunch loyalist associated with the Union League, he was a leader of the state's derisively called "carpetbagger" element, though his name was not associated with the corruption rampant among his more unscrupulous colleagues. He was a member of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention in 1867, after which he emerged as the Republican frontrunner for the state's return to representation in the US Congress. Heaton was elected to the Fortieth and Forty-First Congresses, representing North Carolina's 2nd District, and served from July 1868 until his death in office. He was buried in New Bern. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.
US Congressman. A prominent Reconstruction-era politician, he represented North Carolina in the first session of Congress after that state was readmitted to the Union in 1868. Heaton was born in Hamilton, Ohio. He was a practicing attorney when elected to his first public office, the Ohio State Senate (1855). Two years later he moved to Minnesota and was a State Senator there for six terms (1858 to 1863). The Civil War changed the course of his career. In 1863 Heaton was named a special agent of the Treasury Department and dispatched to the Union-occupied city of New Bern in Confederate North Carolina; he chose to remain there after the war, turning down a promotion in the US Treasury to do so. A staunch loyalist associated with the Union League, he was a leader of the state's derisively called "carpetbagger" element, though his name was not associated with the corruption rampant among his more unscrupulous colleagues. He was a member of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention in 1867, after which he emerged as the Republican frontrunner for the state's return to representation in the US Congress. Heaton was elected to the Fortieth and Forty-First Congresses, representing North Carolina's 2nd District, and served from July 1868 until his death in office. He was buried in New Bern. There is a cenotaph in his memory at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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