Thomas George Percy, Sr. was an American planter in

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Biography

The son of Charles "Don Carlos" Percy, (1704–1794), an adventurer from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

with pretensions to blood lines of the

Dukes of Northumberland Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of ...

, he was born in Alabama in the late 1780s and graduated from Princeton in 1806. He married Maria Pope in 1814 or 1815. His fellow Princetonian and friend, John Walker, one of the first two senators from Alabama, married Maria's sister Matilda. Both men built houses on abutting estates in

Huntsville Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...

and named their sons for each other. Through their wealthy planter father,

LeRoy Pope LeRoy Pope (January 30, 1765 – June 17, 1844) was an American planter, lawyer, and early settler of Madison County, Alabama. He purchased much of the land on which downtown Huntsville, Alabama now stands, and for his role in the establishment ...

, the sisters were related to the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

poet

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

. Percy managed the affairs for Walker while he was away in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Percy stayed in Huntsville, enjoying his large library and extended family. He and Maria named their eldest son John Walker, after his boon companion. Their second son, Charles Brown, was named after a third friend in Huntsville, Samual Brown, a distinguished physician who had studied medicine at Edinburgh. (Brown married Catherine Percy; their two children died in infancy.) Percy and Maria named their third son, LeRoy Pope, after her father. The youngest was named William Alexander.Wyatt-Brown, ''House of Percy'', p. 359 John William Walker reciprocated by naming one of his sons Percy. The Percys' youngest son, William Alexander Percy, married Nana Armstrong, a daughter of William Armstrong, a wealthy US

Indian agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government. Background The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of t ...

. Nana was the first cousin of

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

; both cousins were grandchildren of General James "Trooper" Armstrong, a hero of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. William Alexander Percy became a colonel in the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. After the war, Colonel Percy, a successful railroad developer, was elected to the state legislature. He headed the committee of the Mississippi House of Representatives that impeached

Adelbert Ames Adelbert Ames (October 31, 1835 – April 13, 1933) was an American sailor, soldier, and politician who served with distinction as a Union Army general during the American Civil War. A Radical Republican, he was military governor, U.S. Senato ...

, considered to be the last

carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by Southerners to describe opportunistic Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War, who were perceived to be exploiting the lo ...

governor of Mississippi.

Family

Sarah Dorsey Sarah Anne Dorsey (née Ellis; February 16, 1829 – July 4, 1879) was an American novelist and historian from the prominent southern Percy family. She published several novels and a highly regarded biography of Henry Watkins Allen, governor of ...

Kate Lee Ferguson Catherine Sarah "Kate" Ferguson (' Lee; November 3, 1841 – May 30, 1928), better known by her pen name "Kate Lee Ferguson," was an American novelist, poet, and composer best known as the author of ''Cliquot'' (1889) and ''Little Mose'' ( ...

Eleanor Percy Lee Eleanor Percy Lee, born Eleanor Percy Ware (1819–1849), was an American writer of Mississippi who co-authored two books of poetry with her sister Catherine Anne Warfield; these were published in the 1840s. The sisters were indirect ancestors of ...

LeRoy Percy LeRoy Percy (November 9, 1860December 24, 1929) was an American attorney, planter, and Democratic politician who served as a United States Senator to the state of Mississippi from 1910 to 1913. Percy was a grandson of Charles "Don Carlos" Perc ...

Walker Percy Walker Percy, OSB (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, ''The Moviegoer'', won the Nat ...

William Alexander Percy William Alexander Percy (May 14, 1885 – January 21, 1942), was a lawyer, planter, and poet from Greenville, Mississippi. His autobiography ''Lanterns on the Levee'' (Knopf 1941) became a bestseller. His father LeRoy Percy was the last United ...

William Armstrong Percy, III William Armstrong Percy III (December 10, 1933 – October 30, 2022) was an American professor, historian, encyclopedist, and gay activist. He taught from 1968 at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and started publishing in gay studi ...

Catherine Anne Warfield Catherine Anne Warfield (née Ware) (1816–1877) was an American writer of poetry and fiction in Mississippi. Together with her sister Eleanor Percy Lee, she was first of the published authors in the Percy family. Its most noted authors have b ...

Notes

References

*Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. ''The House of Percy: Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern Family''. Oxford University Press, 1994. *Percy, William Alexander. ''Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of a Planter's Son''. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1941. (Reprinted with Introduction by Walker Percy, LSU Press, 1973.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Percy, Thomas George 1780s births 19th-century deaths American slave owners History of Huntsville, Alabama People from Huntsville, Alabama Percy family of Mississippi