Gunning Bedford

Delaware delegate Gunning Bedford was born in Philadelphia, educated at Princeton (Class of 1771), and served as his state's attorney-general while sitting as a delegate to Congress in Trenton. He was later a delegate to the constitutional convention and signed the U.S. Constitution; then was a delegate to the Delaware convention that ratified the Constitution; was appointed Delaware's first federal judge in 1789 and remained on the bench until his death in 1812. His cousin, also named Gunning Bedford, was also appointed as a delegate to Congress as well as a delegate to the Delaware convention that ratified the Constitution, and later served as the state's governor. To distinguish themselves, the future governor called himself Sr., and the future federal judge was known as Jr.

[Credit: courtesy Woodburn, home of Delaware's governors]