Charles Manly Stedman was born in Pittsboro (Chatham County), North Carolina on January 29, 1841. Stedman was an attorney and Confederate veteran who served as lieutenant governor of North Carolina (1885-1889), a trustee for the University of North Carolina (1899-1915), and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1911-1930), among other positions. He practiced law variously in Wilmington, Asheville, and Greensboro. Stedman died in Washington, D.C. on September 23, 1930.