Friday, May 20, 2022

Nelson Tift of Georgia-- Part 2: A Varied Career Before the War

From Wikipedia.

NELSON TIFT

(July 23, 1810-November 21, 1891) 

Born in Groton, Connecticut and moved with his family to Key West in the 1820s, where he assisted his father in the mercantile business.  He moved to Augusta, Georgia in 1830 and went into business.  During his travels, he opened many side businesses and ventures.  he arrived  in what would later become Albany, Georgia,  and set up a small trading post.

One of his children, Frances, married  to Captain Thomas N.  Nelson of the Confederate Army, who was killed at Tupelo, Mississippi.  (I will write about him tomorrow in my Saw the Elephant blog.)

In 1840, he was elected  as colonel of the local militia unit.  In 1841, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives and was reelected to the one-year position in 1847, 1851 and 1852.  While a state legislator, he supported reopening of the international slave trade.  Although not an advocate of immediate secession, he accepted the final decision and  and lent his services to his new nation.

He founded and  published the Albany Patriot from 1845 to 1858.    In 1850, he owned  eight slaves, in  1860, he owned nine in Albany and another nineteen spread out over two locations  in Dougherty County.

--Old B-Runner


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