TATOM, Absalom, a Representative from North Carolina; born in that State in 1742; sergeant in the Greenville (N.C.) Militia in 1763; during the Revolutionary War was commissioned first lieutenant in the First North Carolina Continental Regiment September 1, 1775; promoted to the rank of captain June 29, 1776; resigned from the Continental Army on September 19, 1776; enlisted as assistant quartermaster and keeper of the arsenal in the State service at Hillsborough, N.C., August 15, 1778; was contractor for Hillsborough in 1778; major of detachment of the North Carolina Light Horse February 12, 1779; was clerk of Randolph County Court in 1779; elected to the State house of commons, but was unseated because he already held the office of county clerk; was district auditor for Hillsborough in 1781; one of three commissioners appointed by Congress to survey lands granted to Continental soldiers in the western territory (later Tennessee) in 1782; private secretary to Gov. Thomas Burke in 1782; State tobacco agent in 1782; elected surveyor of North Carolina by the Continental Congress in May 1785; commissioner to sign State paper money in December 1785; served as a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1788; elected as a Republican to the Fourth Congress and served from March 4, 1795, to June 1, 1796, when he resigned; again served in the State house of commons 1797-1802; died in Raleigh, N.C., on December 20, 1802; interment in the Old City Cemetery.
(Source: Biographical Directory of the United States 1774-present.)

Taylor, Charles Elisha, educator, college president and author of Wake Forest, N.C., was born Oct. 28, 1842, in Richmond, Va. He is the author of Gilbert Stone, poems and other works.
[Herringshaw's American Blue-Book of Biography by Thomas William Herringshaw and American Publishers' Association, 1914, Transcribed by AFOFG]

TAYLOR, JOHN LOUIS, lawyer, jurist, author, was born March 1, 1769, in England. He was a former chief justice of North Carolina in 1810-29; and the author of Superior Court Cases in Law and Equity; The North Carolina Law Repository; Term Reports; and Duties of Executors and Administrators. He died Jan. 29, 1829, in Raleigh, N. C.
[Herringshaw's encyclopedia of American biography of the nineteenth century; Edited by Thomas William Herringshaw; Publ. 1901; Donated and Transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack]

Alfred Augustus Thompson
Forty-two years ago there came to the capital city of North Carolina a Chatham County young man who rejoiced in the name of Alfred Augustus Thompson. How long before that he became a citizen of Chatham this deponent knoweth not, but there is authentic information that he was born near Pittsboro some years prior to the time he came to Raleigh.
His father was George W., and his mother, Cornelia E. (Marsh) Thompson, who lived at Asheboro prior to her marriage.
Mr. Thompson was fortunate in the choice of a place to begin life, for among all the counties that claim honor for the great and good men born in them, Chatham is near the head of the list. And, too, it was the good fortune of the subject of this sketch to have been born on a farm and to have spent his early days amid field and forest, a country beautiful for situation and famous for rabbits.
Upon information and belief, it is alleged that Mr. Thompson went to school when he was young, for he learned to write a fairly good hand and became acquainted sufficiently with arithmetic and other things to win his way in business and come out on top in the struggle for existence and success in material matters.
Cotton has been Mr. Thompson's affinity ever since he has lived in Raleigh. In this line of enterprise he has gone from one position of trust and responsibility to another, until he has become the president of two mills, viz., the Raleigh and the Caraleigh cotton mills. He has not neglected other branches of business, as witness the fact that he is vice-president of the Commercial National Bank, and is otherwise identified with the industrial life of the capital city.
Mr. Thompson has been prominent in the civil life of Raleigh. He was mayor when the office of presiding genius of the City of Oaks was combined with that of judge and jury of the municipal court. In the latter capacity Mayor Thompson held the scales of justice so evenly that all alleged offenders against the law got a square deal, whether that was what they wanted or not. Moreover, the mayor was such an apt scholar that he acquired the gift of public speaking from the lawyers who practised before him, and it is truth to say that among the public men of Raleigh there are few more effective than he in extemporaneous speaking on any matter of interest to the welfare of the community.
In religious matters Mr. Thompson is actively identified with the First Presbyterian Church, of Raleigh, of which he is a deacon. He has an interesting family, and is at home to his friends at his beautiful residence in New Bern Avenue.
(Source: Historical Raleigh With Sketches of Wake County (From 1771) and its Important Towns (Moses Amis, 1913) Submitted by Amy Robbins)