{{Short description|American politician (1767–1823)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Magnus Tate |state = Virginia |district= 2nd |term_start = March 4, 1815 |term_end = March 3, 1817. |predecessor = Francis White |successor = Edward Colston |office2 = Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Berkeley County |term_start2=December 3, 1798 |term_end2=November 30, 1800 |alongside2= John Baker<br> Alexander White |preceded2=Elisha Boyd |succeeded2=James Stevenson |office3 = Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Berkeley County |term_start3=December 4, 1809 |term_end3=December 1, 1811 |alongside3=Philip C. Pendleton, George Porterfield |preceded3=Aaron Faris |succeeded3=Andrew Waggoner, Jr |birth_date = {{birth date|1767|9|1}} |birth_place = Berkeley County, Virginia Colony, British America |death_date = {{death date and age|1823|3|30|1767|9|1}} |death_place = Martinsburg, Virginia, U.S. |resting_place = |alma_mater = |employer = |occupation = lawyer |title = |term = |party = Federalist }}
'''Magnus Tate''' (September 1, 1767{{spnd}}March 30, 1823) was an American politician who served in the Virginia General Assembly and the U.S. Representative.<ref>Willis F. Evans, History of Berkeley County, West Virginia (original publication 1928; Heritage Books Inc. edition 2001), pp. 233, 273. P. 281 also indicates he was Attorney General of the United States but gives no date</ref>
==Early and family life== Born in 1767<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cDYTAAAAYAAJ&q=magnus+tate+virginia+1767+1823 Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society]</ref> in Berkeley County in the Colony of Virginia (in the portion that is now West Virginia), Tate studied law. He was initially a Quaker and a member of the Hopewell Friends Meeting in Frederick County, Virginia in 1776, but soon afterward Quakers were forbidden to own slaves. Tate also loved horses and dogs and the fox chase.
He married and had a large family, including a son, Magnus Tate, Jr., who also served in the Virginia House of Delegates. In the 1820 Census, Tate owned 11 enslaved persons, and his household also included 13 free white persons, 5 of them under age 16 but only 2 older than 25.<ref>1820 U.S. Federal Census for Middletown, Berkeley, Virginia (p. 5 of 18 on ancestry.com)</ref>
==Career==
A farmer who lived on the Dry Run Road about three miles outside Martinsburg, the Berkeley County seat, Tate was also admitted to the bar. He practiced law in what later became the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
Berkeley County voters first elected Tate to the Virginia House of Delegates (a part time position) in 1797 and re-elected him in 1798.<ref>Cynthia Miller Leonard, The General Assembly of Virginia 1619-1978 (Richmond, Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 211, 215</ref> He was appointed justice of the Berkeley County Court on May 19, 1798, thus becoming the county magistrate. He again won election to the House of Delegates (a part time position) in 1809 and 1810.<ref>Leonard, pp. 256, 260</ref>
Tate was elected as a Federalist to the Fourteenth Congress (March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817) with 63.35% of the vote, defeating fellow Federalist Francis White. Tate won election as the Berkeley County sheriff in 1819 and again in 1820.
==Death and legacy== He died near Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) on March 30, 1823.<ref>Virginia Biography Vol. 1-11 p. 130</ref> His son Magnus Tate Jr. also became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1802 and was re-elected in 1803.<ref>Leonard, pp. 227, 231</ref>
==Sources== {{CongBio|T000047}}
==References== <references />
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Virginia | district=2 | before=Francis White | after=Edward Colston | years=1815–1817 }} {{s-end}} {{VirginiaRepresentatives02}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Magnus}} Category:1767 births Category:1823 deaths Category:Politicians from Martinsburg, West Virginia Category:Virginia lawyers Category:Sheriffs in Virginia Category:Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Category:Federalist Party United States representatives from Virginia Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:Quakers from West Virginia Category:Lawyers from Martinsburg, West Virginia Category:People from pre-statehood West Virginia Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:18th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly Category:19th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly