Vance Co. NC - BIO:  Thomas M. Pittman

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Submitted by:  J. Marshall Neathery  jmneathery1969@mindspring.com
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                          Judge Thomas M. Pittman
                                      
                                      
   THOMAS MERRITT PITTMAN was born November 24, 1857 in Franklin County,
   North Carolina, near Louisburg, to Alfred H. Pittman and ELIZABETH
   ALSTON NEATHERY. Two of Thomas Pittman's great grandfathers were
   preachers of great distinction. The Rev. Philemon Bennett was
   Moderator of the old Kehukee Baptist Association in Warren and Halifax
   Counties for 17 years. The Rev. William Lancaster was a member of the
   famous Continental Convention of July, 1778.
   
   Pittman attended Belford Academy in Franklin County. He was put out on
   his own at age 14 when his parents died. Moving to Charlotte, N. C.,
   young Pittman was hired as an apprentice in the Mecklenburg Iron Works
   where he became a skilled artisan. At the youthful age of 17 he was
   named foreman of the largest Iron Works in the city, and one of the
   largest in state.
   
   On returning from the Iron Works to his room at night, Thomas Pittman
   studied, incessantly.......reading some of the great literary works
   such as Shakespeare, Byron, et. al. He also became an ardent student
   of the Bible, as well as a student of law.
   
   At age 18, Pittman had become so astute in the law that he was taken
   into the law office of Col. Haywood W. Guion and Maj. W. W. Flemming.
   In 1878 he received his license to practice law, and did so in
   Charlotte until 1885 when he moved to Henderson, North Carolina where
   he lived and worked until his death.
   
   In 1923, Thomas Pittman was appointed to the Superior Court bench by
   Gov. Cameron Morrison. Pittman served for one year then returned to
   private law practice. But he would always be known as "Judge".
   
   At the time of his death, Pittman was the senior partner in the
   Henderson law firm of Pittman, Bridgers and Hicks. He was president of
   the Vance County Bar Association, and had served as vice president of
   the N. C. Bar Association.
   
   Judge Pittman was a life-long Southern Baptist, serving as a deacon,
   and in other offices, in Henderson's First Baptist Church. He was a
   Vice President of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, and
   served as a Moderator of the Tar River Baptist Association (now Cullom
   Association).
   
   Pittman was a charter member of the North Carolina Historical
   Commission that began in 1911. At the time of his death he was
   Chairman of the Commission. He owned a large and rare collection of
   historical papers, documents, and books on the history of North
   Carolina. He did an in-depth study of Hebrew law and was author of
   "The Sanhedrin and Its Criminal Procedure."
   
   Judge Pittman was first married to Harriett Thrower Lassiter in 1884.
   They had a son, Thomas M. Pittman, Jr. and a daughter, Mrs. A. J.
   Davis. Mrs. Harriett Pittman died in 1918; and, in October, 1923,
   Judge Pittman married Elizabeth Briggs, the daughter of prominent
   Raleigh, N. C. businessman Thomas H. Briggs.
   
   On his mother's side of the house, Thomas M. Pittman was a grandson of
   THOMAS TURNER NETHERY and NANCY KEYES BENNETT of Franklin County. He
   was the great grandson of JAMES NETHERY and ELENOR "Nellie" THOMPSON
   of Nottoway County, Virginia. He was the great, great grandson of
   THOMAS NETHERY, SR. (1719 - 1798) who migrated from Chester County,
   Pennsylvania to Mecklenburg County, Virginia.....the present-day Chase
   City area.....about 1760. Judge Pittman was a nephew to Raleigh
   businessman and educator, Major John B. Nethery, who was a founder of
   Alfred Williams and Company Printers, later an Office Supply firm. The
   Judge was also a third cousin once-removed to the Rev. J. Marshall
   Neathery, a native of Vance County; and, for the last 25 years a
   resident of Rolesville in Wake County, where he serves as senior
   minister-pastor of the Rolesville Baptist Church.
   
   Judge Pittman was one of Vance County's and North Carolina's most
   prominent citizens. He was a very learned man, but humble and kind in
   every respect. He died on or about February 8, 1932 of complications
   from a chronic respiratory disease. He was 74 years old. Tributes to
   the Judge poured in from across the state and nation. He is buried
   with his first wife in the Elmwood Cemetery, Henderson.