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{{Infobox military person
|name=Thomas Person
|image=
|birth_date= {{birth date|1733|1|19}}
|death_date= {{death date|1800|11|16}}
|birth_place=[[Surry County, Virginia|Surry County]], [[Colony of Virginia]]
|death_place= [[Granville County, North Carolina]]
|placeofburial= 
|placeofburial_label=
|nickname= 
|allegiance={{flag|United States of America|1777}}
|branch= North Carolina militia
|serviceyears=1776–1783
|rank=[[File:US-O7 insignia.svg|20px]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] 1776–1800
|unit= [[Hillsborough District Brigade]] of the North Carolina militia
|commands= [[Hillsborough District Brigade]] of the North Carolina militia
|battles=
|awards=
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
'''Thomas Person''' (1733–1800) was an American politician, Anti-Federalist organizer, and brigadier general in command of the [[Hillsborough District Brigade]] of the North Carolina militia during the [[American Revolution]].

==Early life==
Born January 19, 1733 in the [[Colony of Virginia]] to William and Ann Person.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IU8UAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA16 Thomas Person], Stephen B Weeks, ''North Carolina Booklet'', vol. IX, no. 1 (July 1909), 16-35</ref>  He married his cousin, Johanna Philpot; the two had no children, and his nephew William Person Little was adopted as his heir.  General Thomas Person spent most of his life in service to [[Granville County, North Carolina]].

==Pre-Revolution career==
In 1756, after several years working for [[John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville|Earl Granville]] as a surveyor, Thomas Person was recommended for the position of [[Justice of the Peace]] for Granville County.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr05-0216|title=List of Justices for Granville County|date=July 6, 1756|website=Colonial and State Records of North Carolina|accessdate=April 10, 2019}}</ref>  By the year 1762, he had become the county's [[sheriff]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr06-0256|title=Minutes of the Lower House of the North Carolina General Assembly, November 03, 1762 - December 11, 1762|website=Colonial and State Records of North Carolina|accessdate=April 10, 2019}}</ref>

After his election to represent Granville County in the [[Province of North Carolina]] House of Burgesses in 1764, Thomas Person would find himself on the side of the disaffected colonials in the [[War of the Regulation]].  When the [[Battle of Alamance]] ended in defeat for the Regulators, Governor [[William Tryon]] issued a series of amnesty proclamations for combatants and rioters, from which Thomas Person was specifically excluded,<ref>[http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr08-0237 Proclamation by William Tryon Concerning a Pardon for Rioters], June 11, 1771</ref> even though he was not present at the battle.  Person was held for three weeks in [[Hillsborough, North Carolina|Hillsborough]] but was eventually released without trial, due either to lack of evidence or his personal friendship with [[Edmund Fanning (colonial administrator)|Edmund Fanning]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr08-es01|title=Preface to Volume 8 of the Colonial Records of North Carolina], page xxvii|accessdate=April 10, 2019}}</ref><ref name="House">{{cite web|url=https://www.carolana.com/NC/Royal_Colony/House_of_Burgesses/royal_27th_house_of_burgesses.html|author=Lewis, J.D.|title=Royal Colony of North Carolina, 27th House of Burgesses|website=Carolana.com|accessdate=October 24, 2019}}</ref>

In spite of his issues with Governor Tryon, Representative Person continued to serve in the state General Assembly until the beginning of the [[American Revolution]], when he was named to the extra-legal [[North Carolina Provincial Congress]].  This body would eventually "concur with the delegates of the other colonies in declaring independency."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr10-0250|title=Minutes of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina|page=512|website=Colonial and State Records of North Carolina|accessdate=April 10, 2019}}</ref>

==Revolutionary war service==
On May 4, 1776, Person was commissioned a [[Brigadier General]] in command of the [[Hillsborough District Brigade]] of the North Carolina militia.  His service consisted mostly of raising troops and collecting supplies rather than fighting on the field, and he turned over command the following year to [[John Butler (general)|John Butler]], who would lead the unit in the [[Battle of Guilford Court House]].  Person spent the rest of the war serving on the North Carolina Council of State.<ref>[http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/index.html/document/csr10-0445 Ordinances of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina] December 20, 1776</ref><ref name='Lewis'>{{cite web|url=http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/patriot_leaders_nc_thomas_person.html|website=The American Revolution in North Carolina|title=Thomas Person|author=Lewis, J.D.|accessdate=March 13, 2019}}</ref>

==Anti-Federalist==
After the war ended, Thomas Person became a leader of North Carolina's [[Anti-Federalism|Anti-Federalists]].  They opposed the ratification of the [[United States Constitution]] on the grounds "that the Senate would become a bastion of aristocratic privilege, that an imperial president would overawe a complacent Congress, and that an intrusive federal court system would engender costly and oppressive litigation".<ref>[http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/109/entry North Carolina History Project] The Antifederalists: North Carolina's Other Founders</ref>  Though there was broad support for the anti-federalists in North Carolina (outside of the wealthy coastal regions),<ref>[http://ncpedia.org/anti-federalists Encyclopedia of North Carolina] Anti-Federalists</ref> the ratification by 11 of the other colonies and the formulation of the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] made it clear that ratification was inevitable by the end of 1789.  Nevertheless, at the [[Fayetteville Convention]] in 1789, Thomas Person would vote Nay.

==Later years==
[[File:Person's Ordinary.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Person's Ordinary]] at Personton, now known as Littleton]]
General Person was an early supporter of the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]].  He granted them a gift of one thousand silver dollars to complete their chapel, which later bore his name.<ref>[http://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/names/thomas-person-1733-1800-and-person-hall/ Thomas Person (1733-1800) and Person Hall]</ref>  He sat on the inaugural Board of Trustees and the Memorial to Founding Trustees outside Person Hall which bears his name.<ref>[http://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/monument/23/ Memorial to Founding Trustees]</ref>

When [[Caswell County, North Carolina|Caswell County]] was divided in 1791, the newly formed [[Person County, North Carolina|Person County]] was named in honor of General Thomas Person.  He died on November 16, 1800 at the home of his sister, Patty Person Taylor.<ref name = nrhpinv>{{Cite web | author= Survey and Planning Unit Staff | title=Patty Person Taylor House| work = National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory | date =November 1974 | url = https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/FK0021.pdf | publisher = North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office | accessdate = 2014-11-01}}</ref> The [[Patty Person Taylor House]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1975.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>  By the time of his death in 1800, Thomas Person owned over 125 square miles of land in [[North Carolina]] and [[Tennessee]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VeSDB5tKDagC&pg=PA74 Thomas Person] ''Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: Vol. 5''</ref>  He also owned at least 34 slaves that he kept at his estate, Goshen, in [[Granville County, North Carolina]].<ref>{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810172010/http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/exhibits/slavery/documents/personsettlement.html |date=2014-08-10|title=Settlement of Thomas Person's Estate}}</ref>  [[Person's Ordinary]] at [[Littleton, North Carolina]] was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.<ref name="nris" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Person, Thomas}}
[[Category:1733 births]]
[[Category:1800 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives]]
[[Category:People from Granville County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Militia generals in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:North Carolina militiamen in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Members of the North Carolina Provincial Congresses]]
[[Category:Members of the North Carolina House of Burgesses]]
[[Category:18th-century American politicians]]