U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Tate, Magnus (1760-1823) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia by F. Vernon Aler, 1888 Printed for the Author by The Mail Publishing Company, Hagerstown, MD. CHAPTER VIII. Historical Pen Sketches of the Early Residents of Berkeley County by the late Hon. Chas. James Faulkner. Pages 104-106, MAGNUS TATE Was born in Berkeley County in 1760. He was a man of superior intelligence and a farmer by occupation. He was twice elected from the county to the House of Delegates of Virginia, in 1797 and 1798. He was commissioned a magistrate in 1799, and twice commissioned Sheriff of the county in 1819 and 1820, and elected to the House of Delegates in 1803, 1809 and 1810. He had much of the old Virginia character about him in his tastes and habits. He was fond of dogs and horses, and in his younger days a keen fox hunter. His house was the abode of a generous hospitality, and the lovers of whist, music and the dance could always find an opportunity there to gratify their appetites for pleasures. In January, 1815, he announced himself a candidate for Congress for the district composed of the counties of Berkeley, Jefferson, Hardy and Hampshire, and he was triumphantly elected. His address to the freeholders of the district prior to the election is all that now remains of this gentleman to show the temper of the man and the character of his intellect, and certainly his descendants have no reason to be ashamed of it, either upon the score of its sentiments or of its ability. We give it entire: "To the freeholders of the district composed of the counties of Berkeley, Hampshire, Hardy and Jefferson: Fellow Citizens: — I offer myself to your consideration as a candidate to represent you in the next Congress of the United States. It is possible the curious may be disposed to inquire why I have become a candidate without the sanction of a committee. To this interrogatory I answer that the recent method of nominating candidates by committee, however highly I may incline to appreciate the practice, is, nevertheless, as it seems to me, no way preferable to the ancient custom which everyone understands. Again, I have been induced to declare myself at this time and in this way by the request of my friends, who think with me it is the wish of a majority of the freeholders of the district. If, however, we should be mistaken in this particular, whatever the result may be, I will cheerfully submit to when fairly ascertained on the day of election. All I desire is to give the people an opportunity of making a selection, and all I ask is an unbiased expression of public opinion. This manner of proceeding appears perfectly congenial with the first principles of our government, with all our political institutions, and consequently can be liable to no rational objection. Here, perhaps, it may not be improper to premise that I trust my deportment on this occasion will be found fair and manly, and that if I should meet with an opponent he shall receive from me all the politeness and decorum due from one gentleman to another. To those gentlemen in the upper parts of the district with whom I have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance, I am pursuaded I shall be exonerated from the charge of egotism and of complimenting myself when they are informed that I am a farmer, in the middle walks of life, and that if honored with their suffrages my circumstances are such that I will neither be driven from the path leading to the prosperity of our country by want or poverty, nor allured from it by avarice or ambition. Citizens of the district, if an ardent attachment to my native soil; if many friends and relatives whom I esteem and venerate; if a numerous progeny intertwined with every moral perception of my heart; if either or all these considerations firmly combined can rivet a man to his country and to liberty — these motives, these inducements, which, in my estimation, are the most powerful that can operate on the human mind, shall be left by me, as pledges." He was associated in his legislative labors with such men as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, William Lowndes, John Randolph, William Gaston, Philip P. Barbour, Henry St. George Tucker and a host of others, all members of that House almost equally distinguished by their geniuses and reputations. In those days the committees of the House were few and small, and the active business of the body was left in the hands of its leading statesmen. Not as now, when every man in Congress, no matter how inferior, must have his hour, and grind out that hour in a written speech, whether listened to or not, or whether written by himself or by a clerk in the departments. The rule now is to put every member on some committee. The rule then was to put on committee duty only the most competent and distinguished. Mr. Tate lived almost two and a half miles southwest from Martinsburg, on a farm since purchased by Wm. Walker. He left a large family of sons and daughters. He died on the 30th of March, 1823. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Berkeley County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/berkeley/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------