George Edmund Badger was born in New Bern, Craven County on April 17, 1795. A state superior court judge, he later served as the Secretary of the Navy in 1841 and as a U.S. Senator for North Carolina from 1846-1855. His career allowed his daughters to be wealthy socialites in Raleigh where they resided, and they became members of Margaret Eliza Cotten's social circle. He died on May 11, 1866 in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina.