Fayette County PA Archives Biographies.....Fee, Captain Thomas M. September 23, 1831 - ????
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Marta Burns marta43@juno.com September 21, 2024, 1:21 pm

Source: Gresham and Wiley, 1889: Biographical & Portrait Cyclopedia, Fayette Co, PA, page 435
Author: John H. Gresham & Samuel T. Wiley

    Captain Thomas M Fee is a native of Brownsville, Penna, and was born
September 23, 1831.
    His grandfather, Micheal Fee, came from Germany and settled in New
Jersey.  He enlisted in the War of the Revolution and served till its
close, was at Long Island, Georgetown, Princeton and quite a number of
the principal battles of that war.  After the war he came to Brownsville,
where he died at the age of ninety one years, and now lies buried in the
old Catholic graveyard at that place.  John Fee, Frederick Fee, Rebecca
Fee and Thomas Fee were the names of his children.
    His maternal grandparents were born in Delaware.
    Thomas Fee, the father of Captain Fee, was born at Brownsville and was a
stage driver on the "Old Pike," from Brownsville to Cumberland for many
years.  He died at Mount Pleasant in 1834 of cholera.  Captain Fee's
mother, Lydia Ann Reason, came to Uniontown when quite young and was
raised by Judge Dawson.  She had one brother, John Reason, who was a
farmer in Warren county, Ohio.
    Thomas Fee and Lydia Ann Reason were married and had the following
children: James A Fee, dead; Mary Ann Fee, dead; and Thomas Fee.
    Captain Thomas Fee was educated at the common schools of the county.
Leaving school he learned the trade of shoemaker, afterwards clerked in a
shoe store for John D Boyle of Uniontown.  When Boyle established a branch
at Connellsville in 1861, Captain Fee took charge of it and ran the
business until he enlisted at Uniontown in April, 1861, for the Union
service.  
    As soon as President Lincoln issued his proclamation, Captain S D
Oliphant commenced to recruit a company for the service.  Captain Fee
enlisted as a member of the same in April, and was one of the first men
to sign the roll.  The company was made up, and started to the rendezvous
at Pittsburgh by the 15th of April.  The company went into Camp Wilkes
under the name of the "Fayette guards." They were ninety day men, and
were mustered out of service in July when Captain Fee returned to
Connellsville again assumed charge of the store for a short time when he
purchased it and opened out for himself, and continued in that business
until August, 1864.  
    On the 28th day of August, 1864, he re-entered the army as second
lieutenant of Company E, Sixth Pennsylvania Artillery.  He was soon
promoted to first lieutenant and was mustered out of service June 13,
1865.  He returned home and reopened the store and kept it till 1870.  From
1870 to 1882 he was engaged in business as a detective in a force known
as "The Central Detective Agency," of which he is the general
superintendent and manager.
    In 1881 he was appointed as deputy United States marshal and served
during the last three years of President Arthur's administration and
since that time he has been acting as a detective.
    He was the last captain of the old military company known as the
"Cameron Union Volunteers" which in 1823 were known as the "Union
Volunteers." He received his commission from Governor William F Parker,
June 9, 1859, and held it until the company was disbanded in 1860.  He was
appointed a railroad policeman in March, 1876, and acted in this capacity
for seven years.  
    In politics he was a whig, afterwards became a republican, and has been
an active worker in that party ever since.  He removed to Connellsville in
1863, was elected burgess of Connellsville in 1866, and was the first
republican elected to that office.
    He was married the 24th of August, 1854, in Steubenville, Ohio, to
Rachel A Manly, a daughter of Abel Manly.  She was a graduate of
Steubenville Female Seminary.  They had nine children: Louisa S Fee,
Charles M Fee, James A Fee, Smith F Fee, Minnie E Fee, Thomas M Fee, M
Amelia Fee, George M Fee and Frank R Fee.
    He is past grand in General Worth's Lodge, No 386, I O O F at
Connellsville; is past chancellor of K of P, No 239 at the same place:
past post commander of William Kurtz Post No 104, G A R, and is at
present adjutant of that post; and is frequently sent as a delegate to
the department and national encampment of the G A R.

Additional Comments:
Originally submitted 2000.

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