John Gaston Grant

Who was John Gaston Grant?

John Gaston Grant was a politician and served in the U.S. House of Representatives.

John Gaston Grant was born 1 January 1858 in a log cabin in Henderson County, North Carolina, along what is now Highway 74. He was the fifth child of William Colin and Sarah Elizabeth Grant, of Henderson county, NC. He was self-educated and a lifelong "Radical" or Republican. He was called "Cornbread John" by local Democrat-leaning newspaper, The French Broad Hustler. He married Zsa Zura Edney, 30 March 1876 in Henderson county, North Carolina.

Grant was a Member of the State house of representatives in 1889, but declined a renomination. He was the sheriff of Henderson County 1892-1896 and refused a renomination in 1896. He was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-first Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 to the Sixty-second Congress after which he resumed agricultural pursuits.

Grant died in Hendersonville, N.C., June 21, 1923 and is interred in Oak Dale Cemetery.