Colonel Nelson Tift - GHM 047-4
Posted by: 
GA Cacher
N 31° 34.720 W 084° 09.137
16R E 770255 N 3497254
Colonel Nelson Tift State Historical Marker
Located at Albany-Dougherty County Judicial Building, Albany, Ga.
Waymark Code: WM3RQ4
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 05/12/2008
Views: 28
COLONEL NELSON TIFT
Nelson Tift, founder of the City of Albany, was born at Groton, Conn.,
July 23, 1810. In 1833 he established a mercantile business in
Augusta, Georgia. After a sojourn in Hawkinsville he moved to Albany,
then in Baker County, in 1836.
Politically active, Col. Tift served as justice of the peace; delegate
to the State Convention, 1840; justice of the Inferior
Court; member Georgia House of Representatives for several terms,
member of Congress, 1868-1869. He was re-elected but was
not seated the next term. He was a delegate to the State
Constitutional Convention in 1877.
Founder of the Augusta Guards in 1835, Tift was elected Colonel
of the Baker County Militia in 1840. During the War Between the States
he operated a beef and pork packing plant and hardtack
factory in Albany without remuneration.
Col. Tift owned an extensive plantation, operated lumber, flour and
corn-meal mills, promoted the building of several railroads, and
edited and published the Albany Patriot.
He died November 21, 1891, and is buried in Oakview Cemetery.
Tift County is named for him.
047-4 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1959