Representative Farish Carter Tate

Farish Carter Tate (November 20, 1856 – February 7, 1922) was an American attorney and Democratic politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 9th Congressional District from 1893 to 1905. He was born in Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia, on November 20, 1856, into a family long established in the region. Raised in the post–Civil War South, he came of age during Reconstruction and the political realignments that followed, experiences that would shape his later public career.

Tate attended North Georgia Agricultural College in Dahlonega, Georgia, one of the state’s early institutions of higher learning created in the aftermath of the Civil War. After his studies there, he read law, following the common 19th-century practice of legal apprenticeship rather than formal law school. He was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1880 and began the practice of law in his hometown of Jasper, where he quickly established himself as a capable attorney and a rising figure in local Democratic politics.

Tate’s political career began in the Georgia House of Representatives, to which he was elected in 1882. He served in the state legislature continuously until 1897, a period in which Georgia was grappling with issues of economic recovery, railroad regulation, and the entrenchment of the Democratic Party in state government. During his tenure in the Georgia House, he also played an active role in party affairs. He served on the Democratic State Executive Committee from 1884 through 1887 and again from 1890 to 1892, participating in the organization and strategy of the state party. In addition, he was a delegate to the 1888 Georgia Democratic Convention, further solidifying his influence within the party’s leadership.

Building on his state-level experience, Tate was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives from Georgia’s 9th Congressional District in the 53rd Congress. He took office on March 4, 1893, and was subsequently re-elected to five additional consecutive terms, serving through the 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, and 58th Congresses. His federal congressional service thus spanned from March 4, 1893, through March 3, 1905, encompassing six terms in office. Serving during a significant period in American history marked by the Panic of 1893, the rise of Populism, the Spanish–American War, and the early Progressive Era, Tate participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his north Georgia constituents in debates over economic policy, agriculture, and federal development in the South. A member of the Democratic Party, he contributed to the work of the House of Representatives during a time of rapid national change. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the 59th Congress in 1904, bringing his congressional career to a close at the end of his sixth term in March 1905.

Following his service in Congress, Tate continued his public career in the federal judiciary system. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, a significant federal prosecutorial post. Reflecting confidence in his performance and legal abilities, President William Howard Taft reappointed him to the same position. Tate served as U.S. Attorney from 1905 until 1913, overseeing federal prosecutions and representing the United States in civil and criminal matters in a period that saw increasing federal regulation of commerce and enforcement of national law. After leaving that office in 1913, he returned to Jasper, where he resumed the private practice of law.

In his personal life, Tate married Julia Lester Bell in 1881. The couple had four children: Howard, Farish III, Virginia, and Julia, born between 1884 and 1893. Their son Farish III died in infancy, a loss recorded in family and local histories. Throughout his career, Tate maintained close ties to Jasper and the surrounding region, balancing his national responsibilities with his role as a local attorney and community figure.

Farish Carter Tate died in Jasper, Georgia, on February 7, 1922. He was buried in the Tate family cemetery, reflecting his lifelong connection to his birthplace and family community. His career encompassed service in the Georgia House of Representatives, six terms in the United States Congress, and eight years as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, marking him as a significant figure in Georgia’s political and legal history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.