HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Tristram Benjamin Bethea
OR:
Tristram Benjamin Bethea on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Tristram Benjamin Bethea (April 12, 1810 – September 6, 1876) was a prominent Alabama lawyer and politician. He was born in South Carolina, and moved to Alabama at an early age. He served several terms in the
Alabama Legislature The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both cham ...
.


Early life

Bethea was born on April 12, 1810, in
Marion County, South Carolina Marion County is a county located in the coastal plain of the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 29,183. Its county seat is Marion. It is a majority-minority county. History Early European traders in t ...
. His paternal ancestors were early French
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
settlers of South Carolina. He came with his parents to
Claiborne, Alabama Claiborne is a ghost town on a bluff above the Alabama River in Monroe County, Alabama. History Situated near the Federal Road, Claiborne began during the Mississippi Territory period with a ferry over the river. During the Creek War a large ...
during his childhood. His father died a premature death. As a consequence, he had a simple early education. He then read law under Arthur P. Bagby in Claiborne and later under C. M. Conrad in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
.


Adulthood

He moved to
Wilcox County, Alabama Wilcox County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,600. Its county seat is Camden. History Wilcox County was established on December 13, 1819. The county was named after Joseph M. Wilcox, a ...
in 1832, where he practiced law. He moved to
Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...
in 1850 and was elected to the Alabama Legislature from Mobile on the Democratic ticket three years later. In 1855, he was reelected to the state legislature, this time as representative of the
Know-Nothing Party The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock nativist political movement in the United States in the 1850s. Members of the m ...
. He permanently moved to
Montgomery County, Alabama Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, its population was 228,954, making it the seventh-most populous county in Alabama. Its county seat is Montgomery, the state capital. Montgomery County ...
shortly afterward. He died in Montgomery County on September 6, 1876.


Personal life

Tristram Bethea married Eugenia Volanto Bethea of Wilcox County, Alabama. She was the daughter of David Bethea and Mary Ann Pledger. They had seven children: Mary Ann, Sarah Cornelia, Henry, Alfred, David, Theodore, and Andrew Jackson (A. J.) Bethea.


See also

* Tristram Bethea House, built by Bethea in 1842.


References

1810 births 1876 deaths 19th-century members of the Alabama Legislature {{Alabama-politician-stub