William Alexander Hoke was a North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 politician and jurist who served as an associate justice (1905-1924) and chief justice

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 (1924-1925) of the North Carolina Supreme Court

North Carolina Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices...

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Born in Lincolnton, North Carolina

Lincolnton, North Carolina

Lincolnton is a city in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States, within the Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 10,683 at the 2010 census. Lincolnton is located northwest of Charlotte, on the South Fork of the Catawba River, and near the junction of State Highway 27 and U.S. Route...

, Hoke's father was a cousin of General Robert Hoke

Robert Hoke

Robert Frederick Hoke was an American businessman, railroad executive, and a Confederate Army general during the American Civil War. Hoke and his division played a decisive role during the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864....

. He studied law under Chief Justice Richmond Mumford Pearson

Richmond Mumford Pearson

Richmond Mumford Pearson was an American jurist who served as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1858 to 1878. He was the father of Congressman Richmond Pearson and the father-in-law of North Carolina Governor Daniel Gould Fowle.Pearson lived much of his life in what is now...

. A Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, "Alex" Hoke, as he was known, represented Lincoln County in the North Carolina House of Representatives

North Carolina House of Representatives

The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the state senate....

 in 1889 and was elected a state Superior Court

Superior court

In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...

 judge the following year. He was elected to the state Supreme Court in 1904 as an associate justice. Re-elected in 1912 and 1920, Hoke was appointed chief justice on June 2, 1924 by Governor Cameron Morrison, upon the death of Walter Clark. Although he was elected chief justice in November 1924, Hoke resigned in March 1925 due to failing health. He died on September 13, 1925 and is buried in St. Luke's Episcopal Church Cemetery in Lincolnton, North Carolina.

A friend of Zebulon B. Vance, Hoke chaired the commission to provide a statue of Vance for Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol

United States Capitol

The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...

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