William Wyatt Bibb (October 2, 1781 – July 10, 1820) was a United States Senator from Georgia, the first governor of the Alabama Territory, and the first Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama. Bibb was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party and served as governor of Alabama until his death on July 10, 1820, from a horse riding accident. He is the first of only three people in U.S. history to be elected a U.S. Senator from one state and the governor of another. Bibb County, Alabama, and Bibb County, Georgia, are named for him. Early life William Wyatt Bibb was born on October 2, 1781, in Amelia County, Virginia, to Captain William Bibb, an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and a member of the state legislature, the General Assembly of the newly independent Commonwealth of Virginia, and his wife, Sally (Wyatt) Bibb. Around 1784, Bibb Sr. moved with his family south to Georgia with a large number of Virginians who accompanied General George Mathews, hero of the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. Most of the general's followers were also veterans and, with their families, took advantage of the new nation's offer of land bounties in lieu of pay for former soldiers. They established tobacco farms on the rich lands around the confluence of the Broad and Savannah Rivers in newly developing northeastern Georgia. The Bibbs are recorded as one of the earliest pioneer families in Elbert County. Bibb was probably privately educated before he went to the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. He was awarded a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in 1801, returned to Georgia, and began to practice medicine in Petersburg. In 1803, he married Mary Freeman. Early political career Bibb was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1802 as a member at the age of 21. He took office in 1803 and served one two-year term. In 1806 he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Ninth session of the United States Congress to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Thomas Spalding, and was re-elected four times, serving until November 6, 1813. As was then the practice, he was elected at that time by the state legislature to the US Senate to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of William H.