CA1179

ANDREW JACKSON TARRANT, of Birmingham, Ala., was born June 17, 1832, in Jefferson county, Ala. His father, Benjamin Tarrant was born Oct. 8, 1792, in Amherst, Va.  Benjamin Tarrant was the oldest child of James Tarrant, a native of Virginia, and a soldier in the Revolutionary war, one of the six sons of Leonard Tarrant, a native of Scotland who emigrated to America about the beginning of the seventeenth century, settled at Jamestown and shortly afterward married a young lady of English and Welsh descent.  All of the Tarrants in America trace their ancestry back to these six sons of Leonard Tarrant, the great-grandfather of A. J. Tarrant. Soon after Leonard Tarrant’s marriage he removed to Amherst, Va., and thence to South Carolina, where he and his wife resided until their respective deaths. It is supposed that all the Tarrants moved to South Carolina together.  Benjamin Tarrant, the father of A. J. Tarrant, was in the War of 1812. He married, Dec. 26, 1815, Morning, daughter of Mathias Richardson, a prominent farmer of the old Pendleton district, S. C., and in 1819 he moved with his wife and two children to Jefferson county, Ala., locating below Elyton, near what is now known as Bethlehem church. There he resided until his death in 1840. A. J. Tarrant spent his entire life in Jefferson county. On Nov. 20, 1860, he was married to Martha J., daughter of John B. and Sarah Ayres, who emigrated to Alabama from South Carolina. April 9, 1861, he entered the Confederate service as first sergeant in Company C, Twentieth Alabama volunteers.  He took part in the following battles: Port Gibson, Baker’s Creek, and was in the siege of Vicksburg, where he was wounded in the right breast, was surrendered, later paroled, and exchanged.  After this, his command was ordered to Lookout Mountain, and he fought in the “battle above the clouds” and Missionary Ridge, and from Dalton to Atlanta; from there he accompanied Hood into Tennessee, and fought at Franklin, Columbia and Nashville; from Nashville to Tupelo, Miss., and thence to North Carolina, and there took part in several engagements, including the battle of Bentonville, which was the last battle in which he engaged. He was sent home on detached service and was there at the time of the surrender.  After the war, he returned to farming and continued in this occupation until 1880, when he was elected tax assessor of Jefferson county; he was re-elected in 1884 serving eight years all told; in 1890 he was elected as assistant in this office under Professor S. L. Robertson and served six years. In 1900 he was elected a member of the board of revenue of Jefferson county, and was chosen by the board as president.  He is now holding that position.  He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows.  Mr. A. J. Tarrant and his wife, Martha have two children, Mattie J., born Sept. 25, 1861, the wife of Frank Culverhouse, a resident of Pratt City; and George B., born Nov. 29, 1867, at present is a clerk of the probate court of Jefferson county; he married April 24, 1895, Addell, daughter of Henry Paul and wife, Frederica (Betts) Lewis. They have two children: Mildred and George B., Jr.  Henry P. Lewis is a native of Missouri, where he was married.  He has been in business in Birmingham about fifteen years.