# Christopher Gale > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Christopher_Gale > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Christopher_Gale.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Gale > Source revision: 1320905381 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Christopher Gale** (1670 – February 17, 1735) was the first Chief Justice of the [Colony of North Carolina](/source/Colony_of_North_Carolina). He was also briefly [Attorney General](/source/Attorney_General) and a customs collector for various ports of [North Carolina](/source/North_Carolina). ## Biography Christopher Gale was born in 1670 (some sources say 1679) in [York](/source/York), the son of the Rev. [Miles Gale](/source/Miles_Gale) and Margaret Stone. He read law under an attorney in [Lancashire](/source/Lancashire) but Gale migrated to Carolina when he was in his early twenties, settling in [Bath](/source/Bath,_North_Carolina). He made his fortune in trade with the [Indians](/source/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas). In 1702, Gale married Sarah Laker Harvey, widow of Governor [Thomas Harvey](/source/Thomas_Harvey_(North_Carolina_governor)). They had four children: Miles, Theophilus, Penelope and Elizabeth.[1] He lived at Kirby Grange, a large plantation near Bath. ## Career as a Justice In 1703, Proprietary Governor [Robert Daniel](/source/Robert_Daniel) appointed Gale to serve as a Justice of the General Court, the supreme court of the colony and in 1704, he concurrently was appointed attorney general of Carolina. Following the upheaval of [Cary's Rebellion](/source/Cary's_Rebellion) in 1708, Gale was removed from office as Chief Justice by Governor [William Glover](/source/William_Glover_(North_Carolina_governor)). Gale traveled to [London](/source/London) where the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony were meeting to lay his case for reinstatement before them. He was immediately reinstated. Gale was a capable explorer and was slated to go with [John Lawson](/source/John_Lawson_(explorer)) and Baron [Christoph de Graffenried](/source/Christoph_de_Graffenried) on their fateful 1711 expedition into Indian territory. De Graffenreid and Lawson were captured by [Tuscarora Indians](/source/Tuscarora_people) and Lawson was killed. Gale was unable to join them due to his wife Susan's illness. Gale later reflected that her illness likely saved his life. Later that year Governor [Edward Hyde](/source/Edward_Hyde_(c._1650%E2%80%931712)) sent him to [Charleston, South Carolina](/source/Charleston,_South_Carolina) to secure military aid for the war against the Tuscarora Indians. On his return trip, Gale was captured by the French who held him briefly as a prisoner of war on [Martinique](/source/Martinique). Finally arriving home in July 1712, Gale was rewarded for his service with a re-appointment as Chief Justice. He held that office, with only brief interruptions, until 1731, during which time he obtained commissions as collector of customs at the ports of [Beaufort](/source/Beaufort,_North_Carolina), [Currituck](/source/Currituck,_North_Carolina), and [Roanoke](/source/Roanoke,_North_Carolina) successively. He also briefly served as the absentee Attorney General of the [Bahamas](/source/Bahamas). In 1729, Gale was appointed to a commission to determine the boundary between North Carolina and [Virginia](/source/Virginia) along with Colonel John Lovick and William Little. ## End of life His wife Sarah died in 1730 and Gale married Sarah Catherine Ismay, widow of John Ismay, about 1733. Gale died in 1735 in [Edenton, North Carolina](/source/Edenton,_North_Carolina) leaving a will that stated, “To All my friends I leave my hearty prayers & Good wishes, To my Enemys forgiveness & prayers for their Repentance for the many ill offices done me.”[2][3] Several of his letters are printed in [John Nichols](/source/John_Nichols_(printer))'s *Illustrations*, iv. 489–92.[4] ## References 1. *Putnam's monthly historical magazine*, Volume 4. 1896 1. William S. Powell, ed. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, II, 260-264—sketch by George Stevenson 1. Will of Christopher Gale, 1934, Secretary of State of North Carolina Archives,Call Number: SS 876/394, found online at MARS Id: 5200.24.463 1. [DNB](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gale%2C_Miles_(DNB00)) ## External links - [North Carolina Historical Marker B-5](http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=B-5) - William S. Price Jr., “A Strange Incident in George Burrington’s Royal Governorship,” North Carolina Historical Review (Spring 1974): 149-158 - Alan D. Watson, Bath: The First Town in North Carolina (2005) - Marshall DeLancey Haywood, Builders of the Old North State (1968) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Christopher Gale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Gale) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Gale?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.