Thomas Bee

Thomas Bee (1739 – February 18, 1812) was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, the 6th 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. 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

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.