BIOGRAPHIES (Source: History of Alabama &
Dictionary of Alabama Biography
by Thomas McAdory
Owen, LL.D. - Vol. 4 of 4 volumes.
Published: Chicago - The S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1921)
WILLIAM TABOR,
soldier of the American Revolution, aged 73, and a resident
of Bibb County; ensign and lieutenant N. C. Militia; enrolled on
Jan. 2, 1834, under act of Congress of June 7, 1832, payment to
date from March 4, 1831; annual allowance, $100; sums received
to date of publication of list, $300. - Revolutionary Pension
Roll, in part 3, vol. xiii, Sen. doc. 514, 23rd Cong., 1st
sess., 1833034.
CHARLES TAIT, lawyer,
first Federal district judge in Alabama, was born Feb. 1, 1768,
near Claiborne; son of James and Rebecca (Hudson) Tait,
the former a Virginian, who moved to Georgia in 1783, and
settled near Petersburg, Elbert County; grandson of William
and Lucy (Bullock) Tait, who settled at the mouth of
Christopher's Creek on Pamunky River, Hanover, now Louisa
County, Va., and of Charles and Susan (Patrick) Hudson,
who lived in Prince Edward County, Va.; great grandson of
Robert Tait, and of John and Elizabeth (Harris) Hudson,
the former an Englishman who settled in Hanover County, Va.,
near Page's Ware House; great-great-grandson of a Scotchman, the
progenitor of the Tait family, who also settled near
Page's Ware House, Va. Judge Tait was a cousin of
Henry Clay e attended Wilkes academy, Washington,
Ga., 1786-1787, when Gen. Samuel Blackburn was rector of
the academy; and was a student on Cokesburg college, Abingdon,
Md., 1788. In September of that year, he was elected to an
instructorship in the school, and was put in charge of the
French classes and the charity pupils. He taught at
Cokesburg college until 1794, studying law during that time, and
in February, 1795, was admitted to the bar at Elberton, Ga.
A few weeks later he was elected rector or headmaster of
Richmond academy, and held that position until 1798, when he
began to practice law. He also practiced in Lexington,
Oglethorpe County, Ga.; was elected judge of the western circuit
of Georgia in 1803; and served in that capacity until 1809.
He was elected U. S. senator, in 1809, to succeed John
Millege who resigned; and was re-elected on the expiration
of his term serving until March 4, 1819. While in the
senate, he became a friend of John C. Calhoun, secretaryof war, and the two maintained a correspondence for
years. Calhoun, in a letter dated, July 20, 1818,
says "Your political course has been without an aberration so
far as I have seen it." He was influential in securing the
admission of Alabama into the Union, and secured from congress
an appropriation of one million dollars for the U. S. Navy.
Senator Tait moved to Alabama in 1819, and in 1820 was
appointed by President Monroe the first Federal district
judge of Alabama. He resigned his office in 1826, and gave
his entire attention to planting in Wilcox County, making his
home at Claiborne. He was offered the mission to Great
Britain in 1828, but declined it. Married: (1)
January 3, 1790, in Maryland, to Mrs. Anne (Lucas) Simpson;
(2) in 1822, to Mrs. Sarah (Williamson) Griffin, widow of
Judge Griffin of Georgia, and sister of Judge Peter
Williamson of Lowndes County. Children by first
marriage: 1. Capt. James Asbury, married
Elizabeth Caroline Goode; 2. Charles Jefferson, died
in infancy. Senator Tait was grandfather of John
A. Campbell, formerly justice of the U. S. supreme court;
and great-grandfather of Lucius Q. C. Lamar, another
justice of the supreme court. Last residence: near
Claiborne.
