Elias Carr (February 25, 1839 – July 22, 1900) was an American planter, lawyer, and politician who served as the 48th governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1893 to 1897.
Biography
Carr was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina on February 25, 1839, to Jonas Johnston Carr and Elizabeth Jane Hilliard. He was a cousin of the industrialist Julian Carr and an uncle of the anti-suffragist Mary Hilliard Hinton. Carr's great-grandfather, Colonel Jonas Johnston, fought in the American Revolutionary War.
thumb|left|200px|Carr and his family on the front porch of Bracebridge Hall
Carr became prominent as head of the state Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union (1889–1892). He was part of a more moderate or conservative faction of the Alliance that opposed splitting from Democrats to form a third party. In 1892, he defeated incumbent Gov. Thomas Michael Holt for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Carr then won the three-way race over the Republican candidate, Judge David M. Furches, and the Populist candidate, Dr. Wyatt P. Exum. Carr did not win an absolute majority of the vote, perhaps foreshadowing the 1894 election, in which Democrats lost control of the legislature to an electoral fusion of Populists and Republicans, and the 1896 election, in which Democrats lost the governor's race for the first time since 1872. During his term in office, Carr promoted better school facilities and regulation of railroads. After his governorship, he returned to Bracebridge Hall where he died of a 'thyroid condition' in July 1900. He is buried in the Carr Cemetery at Bracebridge Hall.
References
- The Elias Carr Papers
- National Governors Association