Thomas Minott Peters (December 4, 1810 – June 14, 1888) was an American lawyer, jurist, and botanist who studied the

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

of the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Born in Clarksville, the county seat of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

's Montgomery County, Peters was eight when his family moved to Leighton, now in

Colbert County, Alabama Colbert County () is a county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census the county's population was 57,227. The county seat is Tuscumbia. The largest city is Muscle Shoals. The county is named ...

in 1819. He briefly attended LaGrange College (located on the top of the LaGrange Mountain in Leighton, Alabama, which is now a famous historical site) and graduated from the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 1834 and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1836; being admitted to practice law that same year. He practiced for several years in partnership with David G. Ligon.James Edmonds Saunders, Elizabeth Saunders Blair Stubbs, ''Early Settlers of Alabama - Part 1'' (1899), p. 221-22. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives (1845–1846) and the

Alabama Senate The Alabama State Senate is the upper house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alabama. The body is composed of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, with each district conta ...

(1847–1848). He was elected to represent

Lawrence County, Alabama Lawrence County is a county in the northern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,073. The county seat is Moulton. The county was named after James Lawrence, a captain in the United States Navy from Ne ...

as by that time he had moved to

Moulton, Alabama Moulton is a city in Lawrence County, Alabama, and is included in the Decatur Metropolitan Area, as well as the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. Although it incorporated in 1819,American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, he was a steadfast Unionist and left Alabama during the war. Peters considered the Confederates traitors and even wanted to hang Jefferson Davis and "''all'' his traitorous set". Despite this, Peters, a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 1868 and became the Chief Justice in 1873. He was defeated for reelection in 1874, likely because he supported

equal rights for women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and African Americans. He returned to his

law practice In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professi ...

in Moulton and worked there until his death. He was inducted into the Alabama Lawyers' Hall of Fame in 2006. German-American botanist Charles Mohr praised Peters' botany work, writing in the book ''Plant Life of Alabama'': "In his love for botany homas Minott Petersfound recreation from his professional duties, and his greatest enjoyment was to wander through the adjacent mountains in search of plants. The study of lichens and fungi attracted him particularly, and he was one of the few mycologists working in the Southern field along with

Curtis Curtis or Curtiss is a common English given name and surname of Anglo-Norman origin from the Old French ''curteis'' ( Modern French ''courtois'') which derived from the Spanish Cortés (of which Cortez is a variation) and the Portuguese and Ga ...

and Ravenel." The rare fern '' Trichomanes petersii'' ( A.Gray 1853) was discovered by and is the namesake of Peters. He also did notable work with the genus ''

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...

''. He left his personal herbarium to the University of Alabama. Peters married Naomi Sophia Leetch (20 September 1820 – 18 June 1880), who was from Moulton. They had six children. Peters died June 14, 1888, in Moulton and is buried in Moulton Cemetery, as are his family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Thomas Minott 1810 births 1888 deaths People from Clarksville, Tennessee People from Moulton, Alabama University of Alabama alumni Alabama lawyers Republican Party Alabama state senators American botanists Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Republican Party members of the Alabama House of Representatives American slave owners Burials in Alabama 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers