Descriptive Summary | |
Title: Tift family research files | |
Creator: Fair, John D. | |
Inclusive Dates: 20th Century | |
Language(s): English | |
Extent: 3 Linear Feet (3 boxes, 1 oversized folder) | |
Collection Number: ms4075 | |
Repository: Hargrett Library |
The Tift family has its roots in Colonial Connecticut in shipping and trade, as well as the American Revolution.
Nelson Tift (1810-1891) was a businessman, Georgia House of Representatives and U.S. Representative (1868-1869) who settled along the Flint River after working with the family businesses along the east coast, realizing the potential of lumber and cotton in South Georgia for ship building material. He facilitated trade in the area that, with the help of the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway, led to his founding of the city of Albany.
For more information, see the article Nelson Tift (1810-1891) in the New Georgia Encyclopedia and his congressional biography.
Henry Harding Tift (1841-1922) was an industrialist who established a lumber operation on that same RR further north of Albany on a high point near the Fall Line, and founded the city of Tifton, Georgia. The city of Tifton grew, and the county of Tift was created as business flourished with the connection to Atlanta and the country beyond.
For more information, see the article Henry Tift (1841-1922) in the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
Materials in this collection were the product of research for Dr. John Fair's book The Tifts of Georgia: Connecticut Yankees in King Cotton's Court, published by Mercer University Press.
This collection contains notes, correspondence, and copies of documents relating to the Tift family in Georgia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Georgia.
Tift family research files, ms4075, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.
For more material related to this collection see the Tift family papers, ms4074.