Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 5th ed., 1887,
Franklin Co.

HON JAS. W. TATE, treasurer of Kentucky, was born January 2, 1831, in
Franklin County, Ky., and since his early youth has been continuously a
citizen of Frankfort.  His ancestry was of Scotch-Irish stock of the old
dominion noted in the history of Virginia and the West.  His father, Col.
Thomas L. Tate, a native of Kentucky, and for many years an esteemed and
most intelligent farmer of Franklin County, participated in the war of
1812.  His grandfather, James Tate, served in the Virginia Continentals as
a soldier in the war of the Revolution.  His mother's maiden name was Nancy
Taylor, a lady of great intelligence and womanly worth.  She was twice
married.  Her first husband was John D. Gray.  Her only child by her second
marriage was the subject of this sketch.  Her father was Rev. John Taylor,
of Fauquier County, Va., who immigrated to Kentucky, then a district of the
State, in 1783, finally settling in Franklin County, where he died in 1835
at the age of eighty-three years.  His name was distinguished in the annals
of the Baptist Church, both in Virginia and Kentucky.  Early in life Mr.
Taylor became a minister of the gospel, crossed the mountains and entered
the trackless wilds of Kentucky, where he labored with great zeal and
lived to see his beloved church established throughout the State, and
outnumbering in membership any other Christian denomination.  He was one of
the most successful pioneer preachers, and although he had little
opportunity or need, perhaps, of displaying himself as an early writer in
the church, yet he left behind him his history of the ten Baptist Churches,
a work of rare merit and value, as portraying the growth of the church and
the life and labors of a good man.  James W. Tate received a thorough
education, especially in that line of study which would best fit him for an
active business career.  He commenced business for himself at Frankfort in
1848, as a clerk in the post office.  In 1854 he was appointed by Gov.
Powell assistant secretary of State, filling the position to the
satisfaction of his patron and the public generally.  In 1855, being a
consistent Democrat, he retired from the office on the inauguration of the
American party.  For the four succeeding years he engaged in mercantile
pursuits, in Frankfort, with varied success.  Upon the accession of the
Democratic party to power, in 1859 he was again appointed assistance
secretary of State by Gov. Magoffin, and held the position likewise under
Gov. Robinson.  In 1863 he again entered actively into commercial life. He
has always been a Democrat of strictest sect, and was a member of the State
Central Committee of the Breckinridge wing of the Democratic party in 1860.
 In 1865 he was elected by the Conservative House of Representatives to the
position of assistant clerk of that body, which he held for two consecutive
sessions.  In 1867, by a flattering vote in convention, he was nominated
for State treasurer on the Democratic State ticket, and materially
contributed by his personal popularity to the great success of his party
at the August election of that year.  Biennially since that time, without
opposition in his own party, he has been successively re-elected by popular
majorities, perhaps exceeding those obtained by any other candidate for
office in the State.  His political party and personal friends take special
pride in the manner in which he has discharged the duties confided to his
care, as treasurer, as commissioner of the sinking fund and one of the
managers of the State finances.  Mr. Tate was married, June 3, 1856, to
Miss Lucy Y. Hawkins, daughter of W. W. Hawkins of Woodford County.  His
son, Howard, was born June 28, 1858, and died when about three years of
age.  His only other child, a daughter--Edmonia Lloyd--married Mr. Alfred
W. Martin in 1886, and has an infant daughter, Bessie Dew.  Mr. Tate was
renominated for treasurer by the Democratic State convention in May, 1887,
without opposition, and will enter upon his eleventh term in January,
1888, after twenty years of continuous service, showing a career without
parallel in Kentucky and fittingly evincing his wide-spread popularity.

Tate Taylor Gray Hawkins Martin
=
Woodford-KY Fauquier-VA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/franklin/tate.jw.txt