CS Con Fearn, Thomas - C.S. Delegate, AL

Dr. Thomas Fearn​

Born: November 15, 1789

Birthplace: Pittsylvania County, Virginia

Father: Thomas Patton Fearn 1745 – 1805

(Buried: Thomas Fearn Family Cemetery, Danville, Virginia)​

Mother: Mary "Molly" Burton 1763 – 1845

(Buried: Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama)​

Wife: Sarah Bledsoe "Sally" Shelby 1806 – 1842

(Buried: Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama)​

Children:

Mary Eleanor Fearn Mastin 1823 – 1903​

(Buried: Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama)​

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Sarah Fearn Barry 1824 – 1895​

(Buried: Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, Mississippi)​

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Corinna Fearn 1826 – 1827​

(Buried: Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama)​

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Catherine Erskine "Kate" Fearn Steele 1828 – 1907​

(Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Alabama)​

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Ada F. Fearn Hooke 1830 – 1894​

(Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Alabama)​

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Maria Eliza Fearn Garth 1832 – 1917​

(Buried: Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama)​

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Berenice Shelby Fearn 1834 – 1920​

(Buried: Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama)​

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Lucie Lee Fearn Miller 1842 – 1920​

(Buried: Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Alabama)​

Political Party: Democratic Party

Education:

Attended Washington College​

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1818: Graduated from Medical College in Philadelphia​

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Studied medicine in Europe​

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Received Honorary degree from Rutgers College​

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Received Honorary degree from Transylvania University​

Occupation before War:

Medical Doctor in Huntsville, Alabama​

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Surgeon during the War of 1812 and Creek war of 1814​

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Dressed the wounds of General Andrew Jackson

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Appointed Surgeons Mate in charge of hospital in Huntsville, Alabama​

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Medical Doctor in Huntsville, Alabama until 1837.​

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Involved in Commercial businesses in Alabama​

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Alabama State Representative​

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Member of the board of trustees of University of Alabama​

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He was author of articles on Medicine widely published​

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Director of banks, railroads, turnpike companies and canal companies​

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Said to have been first man in United States to recognize properties of quinine​

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He made his own quinine from the bark of the cinchona tree​

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1860: Advised against secession after the Presidential Election​

Civil War Career:

1861: Alabama Delegate to Confederate Provisional Congress​

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He published an open letter explaining he was convinced secession had been necessary.​

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He only attending a few days of sessions of congress​

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He left the lawmaking to the other members of Congress​

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1861: Resigned from Congress due to bad health on April 29th​​

Died: January 16, 1863

Place of Death: Huntsville, Alabama

Age at time of Death: 73 years old

Burial Place: Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama

 

[Pollaco]

He really was very sick when he resigned from Congress. According to Fearns diary in 1862 He was drug ( by his heels) from his house in Huntsville, Alabama by a squad of Yankee soldiers and the captor of Huntsville, Gen. Ormsby Mitchell.After refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the Union, Mitchell had Fearn and several other prominent Huntsvillians thrown into slave pens.Mitchell eventually realized that Fearn was in very poor health and sent him home to die. Plus it would have made a martyr out of Fearn.