Editing Richard C. Puryear

{{short description|American politician}}
{{For|the African American lynching victim|Lynching of Richard Puryear}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{no footnotes|date=February 2013}}

'''Richard Clauselle Puryear''' (February 9, 1801 – July 30, 1867) was a [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Congressman]] from [[North Carolina]] between the years of 1853 and 1857. A planter and politician, he also served in the North Carolina House for several terms and the state senate.

==Early life==
Richard Clauselle Puryear was born in [[Mecklenburg County, Virginia]]. When he was a child, his family moved to [[Surry County, North Carolina]], where he grew up.

He became a planter near [[Huntsville, North Carolina|Huntsville]]. He served as a militia [[colonel]] and the magistrate of Surry County before being elected to the [[North Carolina House of Commons]].

Puryear served terms in the North Carolina House in 1838, 1844, 1846, and 1852, as well as a term in the [[North Carolina Senate]] before being elected as a [[United States Whig Party|Whig]] to the [[U.S. House]] in 1852. He was re-elected in 1854 as a candidate of the [[Know Nothing|American Party]] and ran unsuccessfully for a third term in 1856.

Puryear was a delegate to the [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] in 1861 and to the Peace Congress following the [[American Civil War]]. He returned to farming and died at his plantation, "Shallow Ford," in [[Yadkin County, North Carolina|Yadkin County]] in 1867.

==External links==
{{CongBio|P000578}}

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{{US House succession box |
  state=North Carolina|
  district=6 |
  before=[[John Reeves Jones Daniel|John Daniel]] |
  after=[[Alfred M. Scales]]|
  years=1853–1857}}
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{{succession box |  before=none |  title=[[Provisional Confederate Congress|Representative to the Provisional Confederate Congress from North Carolina]] |  years=1861 |  after=none}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Puryear, Richard}}
[[Category:1801 births]]
[[Category:1867 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mecklenburg County, Virginia]]
[[Category:Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives]]
[[Category:North Carolina state senators]]
[[Category:People of North Carolina in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People from Yadkin County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States]]
[[Category:19th-century American planters]]
[[Category:North Carolina Whigs]]
[[Category:Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Know-Nothing members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina]]
[[Category:People from Surry County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly]]