William A. Guthrie

William Anderson Guthrie (February 6, 1846 – October 14, 1916) was an American lawyer and politician. Born in Chatham County, North Carolina, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. After the war, Guthrie married and moved to Fayetteville to practice law. He moved his practice to Durham in 1884.

Guthrie was initially a member of the Republican Party, but left and joined the Populist Party after it formed in the 1890s. In 1896 the Populists nominated him as their candidate for that year's gubernatorial election. Shortly thereafter, Populist leaders reached a deal with North Carolina Republicans to combine their state tickets in a Fusionist coalition to defeat Democrats. Despite this, both parties continued to formally back their own gubernatorial candidates. Guthrie was opposed to Fusion and focused his campaign around support for free silver and other national issues, largely resembling the style of the Democratic candidate in the race. Feeling rejected by his own party and wary of a Republican victory, Guthrie endorsed the Democrat late in the campaign and urged Populists to fuse with the Democratic ticket. The Populist vote split in the election, with the Republican winning and Guthrie placing third, earning a majority in only one county. He joined the Democratic Party in 1898 but spent most of his later life focused on his law practice.

Early life William Anderson Guthrie was born on February 6, 1846, in Chatham County, North Carolina, United States. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he enlisted in the Confederate States Army to fight in the American Civil War. In 1864 he joined Company G, Third North Carolina Cavalry, as a private. Captured that December, he was held in the federal prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland, until being paroled in March 1865.

In November 1866 Guthrie married Mary Ella Carr, a sister of Julian Carr. Guthrie later explained that he left the Republican Party because he believed its best qualities were gone and he supported election law reforms, saying, "The interests of the black man and the white men are identical." During the Populists' first statewide convention in 1892 he was nominated as a candidate for an associate justice's seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

1896 gubernatorial candidacy In order to dislodge the Democratic Party politicians which had controlled state affairs since the end of Reconstruction, the Republicans and Populists cooperated with one another during the 1894 state legislative elections in a process Democrats derided as "Fusion". The Fusionist coalition of Republicans and Populists won a majority in the North Carolina General Assembly and used their power to liberalize election laws, thus expanding suffrage in the state. His wife died in April 1915. He suffered a stroke in early October 1916. His health failed to improve and he died early in the morning on October 14 at his home in Durham. A funeral was held at St. Phillips Episcopal Church in Durham and his body was buried next to his wife in Fayetteville.