Robert Dick Douglas Sr. (April 7, 1875 – January 1, 1960) was a

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

attorney who served as

North Carolina Attorney General The attorney general of North Carolina is a statewide elected office in the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. The attorney general is a state constitutional officer, constitutional officer responsible for representing state agencies i ...

briefly from 1900 to 1901. He is believed to be the youngest attorney general in the state's history.

Early life and education

Douglas was born on April 7, 1875, in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

. Robert was the first son and second child of Robert M. Douglas and Jessie Madeline Dick. He was a grandson of Sen.

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (né Douglass; April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. As a United States Senate, U.S. senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party (United States) ...

of Illinois and of Robert P. Dick, a North Carolina state Supreme Court justice. Douglas graduated from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and "read the law" under his grandfather Dick.

Career

At the age of 25, Douglas was appointed by Gov. Daniel L. Russell to serve out the remainder of Attorney General Zeb V. Walser's term. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest person to ever serve as North Carolina Attorney General and the youngest person serving as a state attorney general in the country. After that he built a practice of law in

, where he also served as

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

from 1906 to 1916. In 1932, Douglas gave or sold his grandfather Stephen A. Douglas's papers to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

.''Stephen A. Douglas and the American Union''
Exhibit: 12 February - 20 June 1994, University of Chicago Library Special Collections

Personal life

He married his wife, Virginia Land Brown, on April 14, 1909. They had five children: two sons and three daughters. He died on January 1, 1960, in

High Point, North Carolina High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the United States, U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph County, North Carolina, Randolph, ...

References

Sources

New York Times, December 24, 1900Robert Dick Douglas, Jr., ''The Best 90 Years of My Life''
2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Robert Dick 1875 births 1960 deaths North Carolina lawyers North Carolina attorneys general 20th-century North Carolina politicians Georgetown University alumni Politicians from Greensboro, North Carolina North Carolina Republicans