Thomas Bee

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title: "Thomas Bee" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1739-births", "1812-deaths", "bee-family", "owners-of-plantations-in-south-carolina", "continental-congressmen-from-south-carolina", "judges-of-the-united-states-district-court-for-the-district-of-south-carolina", "lawyers-from-charleston,-south-carolina", "lieutenant-governors-of-south-carolina", "members-of-the-south-carolina-house-of-representatives", "politicians-from-charleston,-south-carolina", "people-from-colonial-south-carolina", "south-carolina-state-senators", "united-states-federal-judges-appointed-by-george-washington", "united-states-federal-judges-admitted-to-the-practice-of-law-by-reading-law", "18th-century-members-of-the-south-carolina-general-assembly", "members-of-the-american-philosophical-society"] description: "American judge" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bee" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American judge ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Thomas Bee
office	Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina
term_start	June 14, 1790
term_end	February 18, 1812
appointer	George Washington
predecessor	William Drayton Sr.
successor	John Drayton
office1	Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
term_start1	January 9, 1779
term_end1	January 24, 1780
governor1	John Rutledge
predecessor1	James Parsons
successor1	Christopher Gadsden
office2	3rd Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives
termstart2	Summer of 1777
termend2	November 1778
predecessor2	John Mathews
successor2	John Mathews
birth_name	Thomas Bee
birth_date
birth_place	Charleston,
Province of South Carolina,
British America
death_date
death_place	Pendleton, South Carolina, U.S.
resting_place	Woodstock Cemetery
Goose Creek, South Carolina
children	Barnard E. Bee Sr.
relatives	Carlos Bee
Barnard Elliott Bee Jr.
Hamilton P. Bee
education	University of Oxford
read law
::

| honorific-prefix = | name = Thomas Bee | honorific-suffix = | image = | alt = | caption = | office = Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina | term_start = June 14, 1790 | term_end = February 18, 1812 | nominator = | appointer = George Washington | predecessor = William Drayton Sr. | successor = John Drayton | office1 = Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina | term_start1 = January 9, 1779 | term_end1 = January 24, 1780 | governor1 = John Rutledge | predecessor1 = James Parsons | successor1 = Christopher Gadsden | office2 = 3rd Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives | termstart2 = Summer of 1777 | termend2 = November 1778 | predecessor2 = John Mathews | successor2 = John Mathews | pronunciation = | birth_name = Thomas Bee | birth_date = | birth_place = Charleston, Province of South Carolina, British America | death_date = | death_place = Pendleton, South Carolina, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = Woodstock Cemetery Goose Creek, South Carolina | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | nationality = | party = | otherparty = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = Barnard E. Bee Sr. | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = Carlos Bee Barnard Elliott Bee Jr. Hamilton P. Bee | residence = | education = University of Oxford read law | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | footnotes =

Thomas Bee (1739 – February 18, 1812) was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Education and career

Born in 1739 in Martigny, Province of South Carolina, British America, Bee attended the University of Oxford and read law in 1761. He was a member of the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly from 1762 to 1765, and from 1772 to 1776. He was a member of the South Carolina Senate from 1788 to 1790.

Federal judicial service

Bee was nominated by President George Washington on June 11, 1790, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina vacated by Judge William Drayton Sr. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 14, 1790, and received his commission the same day. He published reports of the district court in 1810. His service terminated on February 18, 1812, due to his death in Pendleton, South Carolina. He was interred in Woodstock Cemetery in Goose Creek, South Carolina.

Bee was nominated by President John Adams to be Chief Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit on February 21, 1801, and was confirmed by the Senate on February 24, 1801, but he declined the appointment.

Family

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Thomas_Bee's_House.jpg" caption="Thomas Bee's House, Charleston, ca. 1730."] ::

Bee was the father of Barnard E. Bee Sr., who took part in the Texas Revolution and who was a political figure in the Republic of Texas, and the great grandfather of Carlos Bee, a United States representative from Texas. Two of Barnard's sons became known as Confederate generals during the American Civil War: Barnard Elliott Bee Jr. and Hamilton P. Bee.

References

Sources

References

1. {{FJC Bio. 140
2. B000304
3. "Thomas Bee's Notes on the State of South Carolina. Journal of the Early Republic. JSTOR".
4. "National Archives – To George Washington from Thomas Bee".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::