CSN Tift, Nelson - Captain

Nelson Tift​

Born: July 23, 1810

Birthplace: Groton, Connecticut

Father: Amos Tift 1784 – 1829

(Buried: Elm Grove Cemetery, Mystic, Connecticut)​

Mother: Hannah Forsyth 1785 – 1878

(Buried: Elm Grove Cemetery, Mystic, Connecticut)​

Wife: Nancy Maria Anna Mercer 1822 – 1895

(Buried: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia)​

Children:

Annie Elizabeth Tift Rawson 1838 – 1900​

(Buried: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia)​

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Frances J. Tift Nelson 1844 – 1863​

(Buried: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia)​

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Sgt. Nelson Franklin Tift 1847 – 1926​

(Buried: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia)​

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Mariah Isabella "Belle" Tift Mitchell 1849 – 1890​

(Buried: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia)​

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Clara Jane Tift Woolfolk 1852 – 1913​

(Buried: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia)​

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Irene Webster Tift Mann 1856 – 1886​

(Buried: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia)​

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James Mercer Tift 1859 – 1929​

(Buried: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia)​

Occupation before War:

1830 – 1835: Mercantile Businessman in Charleston, South Carolina​

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1835 – 1836: Mercantile Businessman in Augusta, Georgia​

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1836: Mercantile Businessman in Hawkinsville, Georgia​

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1836 – 1861: Mercantile Businessman in Albany, Georgia​

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1836: Founder of the City of Albany, Georgia

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1836: Albany, Georgia Justice of the Peace​

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1839: Baker County Delegate to Georgia State Convention​

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Judge of Baker County, Georgia Inferior Court​

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Colonel of Baker County, Georgia County Militia​

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1841: Georgia State Representative​

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1845: Founder of Albany Patriot Newspaper​

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1845 – 1858: Editor and Publisher of Albany Patriot Newspaper​

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1847: Georgia State Representative​

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1851 – 1852: Georgia State Representative​

Civil War Career:

1861 – 1865: Captain in Confederate States Navy Supply Department​

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Builder of Gunboats for the Confederate Navy​

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Supplied the Confederate Army with beef & hardtack made in Albany​

Occupation after War:

1868 – 1869: United States Congressman from Georgia​

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1868 – 1869: Ranking Member House Treasury Expenditures Committee​

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Owner of a large Plantation in Albany, Georgia​

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Owner of Lumber, Flour, and Cornmeal Mills​

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Promoted and Builder of Railroads in Georgia​

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1877: Delegate to Georgia State Constitutional Convention​

Died: November 21, 1891

Place of Death: Albany, Georgia

Age at time of Death: 81 years old

Burial Place: Oakview Cemetery, Albany, Georgia

 

[ErnieMac]

Nelson Tift and his brother, Asa, were in the process of constructing the ram CSS Mississippi in Jefferson City, LA, when Farragut's fleet passed the Forts Jackson and St. Philip. As federal troops moved up the Mississippi River past New Orleans, tried to tow the ram upstream, but ordered it burned upon the approach of the Federal fleet. For this, Nelson and Asa Tift were brought before a Confederate Court of Inquiry but were exonerated on April 4, 1863.

 

[USS ALASKA]

Journal Article
Nelson Tift: A Connecticut Yankee in King Cotton's Court
John D. Fair
The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 88, No. 3 (FALL 2004), pp. 338-374 (37 pages)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40584788

Full article on JSTOR with Google sign-in (In the upper right-hand corner of the linked page, there is a 'Log in' button. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google sign-in and this will allow for free reading of 100 articles a month).

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

Journal Article
NELSON TIFT APPLIES FOR PARDON 1865
William Warren Rogers
The Georgia Historical Quarterly
Vol. 51, No. 2 (June, 1967), pp. 230-232
Georgia Historical Society

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40578683

Full article on JSTOR with Google sign-in (In the upper right-hand corner of the linked page, there is a 'Log in' button. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google sign-in and this will allow for free reading of 100 articles a month).

Cheers,
USS ALASKA