George Ezekial Hood

George Ezekial Hood (January 25, 1875 – March 8, 1960) was an American politician, lawyer, and member of the Democratic Party who served as a United States Representative from North Carolina from 1915 to 1919. Over the course of more than two decades in public life, he held a succession of local, state, and national offices and became a prominent figure in the civic and political affairs of Goldsboro and Wayne County.

Hood was born on January 25, 1875, near Goldsboro in Wayne County, North Carolina. He was educated in the public schools of Goldsboro, reflecting the limited but expanding educational opportunities available in rural North Carolina at the close of the nineteenth century. After completing his schooling, he became a telegraph operator, a skilled position in an era when telegraphy was a primary means of rapid communication and an important link in the commercial and transportation networks of the South.

While working as a telegraph operator, Hood pursued the study of law. He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of North Carolina in 1896 and commenced the practice of law in Goldsboro. Almost immediately upon entering the legal profession, he also entered public service. From 1896 to 1900 he served as secretary of the Wayne County Democratic executive committee, helping to organize and manage party affairs at the county level. Between 1898 and 1900 he held the office of treasurer of Wayne County, gaining experience in local finance and administration. He also served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1899 to 1901, representing his home area in the state legislature at the turn of the century.

In addition to his legal and legislative work, Hood was active in municipal government and the state militia. He served as mayor of Goldsboro from 1901 to 1907, a period in which he was responsible for overseeing the city’s local governance and public services. Concurrently, from 1899 to 1909 he served in the Second Regiment of the North Carolina National Guard, beginning as a captain and later being promoted to colonel. His National Guard service reflected the broader pattern of citizen-soldier participation in state military organizations in the early twentieth century and added a military dimension to his public career.

Hood’s growing prominence in Democratic politics led to his consideration for higher office. In 1912 his name was presented as a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, although he was unsuccessful in securing the nomination at the party’s convention that year. Undeterred, he remained active in political life, and in the 1914 election cycle he was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-fourth Congress. He took his seat on March 4, 1915, representing North Carolina in the United States House of Representatives.

George Ezekial Hood served as a Representative from North Carolina in the United States Congress from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1919, completing two consecutive terms in the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses. A member of the Democratic Party, he contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history that encompassed the nation’s entry into World War I and major domestic and economic adjustments. As a member of the House of Representatives, Hood participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his constituents in North Carolina. He held several local, state, and national political offices between 1896 and 1919, including his service in Congress, but chose not to be a candidate for renomination in 1918.

After leaving Congress in March 1919, Hood returned to Goldsboro and resumed the practice of law. He continued to be regarded as a leading figure in the community, drawing on his long experience in public office, the National Guard, and the legal profession. He spent the remainder of his life in Goldsboro, where he had been born and where he had built his career.

George Ezekial Hood died in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on March 8, 1960. He was interred in Willow Dale Cemetery in Goldsboro, closing a life closely tied to the civic, political, and legal history of his native community and state.