My Genealogy Hound

Edward W. Tatum, a prominent citizen of Somerville, Fayette County, was born in Guilford County, N. C., December 9, 1810, and is a son of Bev. Henry and Elizabeth (Bruce) Tatum. The father was of English descent, born in Brunswick County, Va., in 1781, and died in Guilford County, N. C., in 1857. The mother was of Irish descent, born in Guilford County, N. C., and died in that county in 1872. The father when still young went to Guilford County, and in 1804 married there, and spent the rest of his life there, where he was a useful and popular preacher in the Primitive Baptist Church; he was also a farmer and a merchant. Our subject was the third of eight children. After acquiring a good education he clerked several years in his father’s store, and was then proprietor of a tobacco factory in Guilford County for a few years. In 1838 he immigrated to Tennessee and settled in Fayette County ten miles west of Somerville and has since lived in the county, where he has been engaged in the mercantile business for twenty-five years, thirteen at Oakland, where he first settled, then three years at Macon, when he moved to Somerville, continuing the business for several years, and is still a resident of Somerville. Mr. Tatum lost heavily by the war, but is now in fine circumstances; he is an upright man of fine business principles. In 1871 he was elected county register, and held the office for sixteen years. He is a Democrat and a consistent member of the Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. Tatum has been married three times; first September 26, 1833, to Miss Elizabeth F. Peebles, who died June 4, 1848; three sons and a daughter were born to this union, one son is dead. The mother was a Primitive Baptist. February 10, 1849, he married Miss Rebecca Copeland, who died September 6, 1850; they had one daughter who died in infancy, and April 8, 1851, Mr. Tatum married Mrs. Elizabeth B. (Menees) Manning, and she died March 28, 1884, a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. Two sons and three daughters were born to this marriage; one daughter is dead. The second wife was a Presbyterian. Mr. Tatum is very popular in his town and is a man of broad views and generous impulses.