Love, William Carter

1784–3 Dec. 1824

William Carter Love, lawyer and congressman, was born near Norfolk, Va., the son of Samuel and Jean Love. He moved with his family to Chapel Hill where his father was steward of The University of North Carolina in 1799. Love was tutored at home, then studied law at the university from 1802 to 1804. He was admitted to the bar and began to practice in Salisbury in 1806. From 1815 to 1817 he served as a Democrat in the Fourteenth Congress. After his term in the House, Love resumed his law practice in Salisbury. He lived on a plantation seven miles east of Salisbury on the Yadkin River.

Love first married Elizabeth Macay, daughter of Judge Spruce and Fanny Henderson Macay. They had one child, Robert E., who later moved to Mobile, Ala. His second wife was Sally Yarboro, daughter of Captain Edward Yarboro and granddaughter of Alexander Long. They had two sons, William and Julius.

Love and his second wife were buried in the Yarboro family graveyard in Salisbury on the east side of the first block of North Main Street. By 1880 a hotel covered the burying ground. His obituary in the Western Carolinian reads in part: "Died at his seat near Salisbury William C. Love attorney, age 40. He had a mind and talents of the first order and he was no less distinguished for forensic eloquence at the bar than for the urbanity of his deportment in the private and social circle. He had already represented this district in Congress and promised to attain higher honors for himself and become more useful to his country."