Absalom Tatom (1742 – December 20, 1802) was a

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

from 1795 to 1796.

Biography

Born in North Carolina in 1742, Tatom was a sergeant in the

Greenville, North Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is the county seat of and the most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, United States. It is the principal city of the Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the List of municipalities in North Carolina, 12t ...

Militia in 1763; he served in North Carolina Militia during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, where he was commissioned

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

on September 1, 1775, and promoted to the rank of captain June 29, 1776. He resigned from the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

on September 19, 1776. On August 15, 1778, Tatom enlisted as assistant quartermaster and keeper of the arsenal in the State service at

Hillsborough, North Carolina The town of Hillsborough is the county seat of Orange County, North Carolina, United States, and is located along the Eno River. The population was 6,087 in 2010, but it grew rapidly to 9,660 by 2020. Its name was unofficially shortened to "Hi ...

; he was contractor for Hillsborough in 1778 and named major of detachment of the North Carolina Light Horse February 12, 1779. In 1779, Tatom served as clerk of court in Randolph County; he was elected to the

North Carolina House of Commons The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, who holds powers si ...

, but, because of his county clerk position, was disqualified from service in the legislature. In 1781, Tatom was district auditor for Hillsborough. Tatom rose in state government; in 1782, he was one of three commissioners appointed by Congress to survey lands granted to Continental soldiers in the western territory (later Tennessee); that same year, he was a private secretary of Governor Thomas Burke and state

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

agent. The

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

named him surveyor of North Carolina in May 1785 and was named commissioner to sign State paper money in December 1785. In 1788, Tatom was a delegate to the convention which considered ratification of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...

. In 1794, Tatom was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed l ...

to the

4th United States Congress The 4th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsy ...

where he served from March 4, 1795, until his resignation on June 1, 1796. Tatom was later a member of the state House of Commons from 1797 to 1802; he died in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

, in December 1802 and is buried in the Old City Cemetery.

References

Retrieved on 2009-02-26 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tatom, Absalom 1742 births 1802 deaths Continental Army officers from North Carolina Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives Burials at City Cemetery (Raleigh, North Carolina) American surveyors Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina People from Greenville, North Carolina People from Randolph County, North Carolina 19th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly 18th-century members of the United States House of Representatives