Abraham "Abe" R. Middleton was born in North Carolina in March 1846. Middleton was a farmer and influential Republican Party leader in Kenansville (Duplin County) who served as the Third Congressional District's executive committee chairman and materially aided in the efforts to successfully unite Republican and Populist voters in the mid 1890s. During the brief era of Fusion rule that resulted, he served as assistant doorkeeper of the state house. Middleton was widely targeted in the press with racist attacks by Democratic leaders during their White Supremacy Campaign at the turn of the 19th Century. Following the disfranchisement of Black voters in 1900, Middleton largely receded from politics. He died on August 15, 1930.