Micah Taul

Born in Bladensburg, Maryland, Taul moved as a child to Kentucky with his parents in 1787, soon after the United States had gained independence. He attended private school as no public schools were yet established.

He studied law, probably "reading" with an established firm and serving as a legal apprentice. He was admitted to the bar in 1801 and commenced practice in Monticello, Kentucky, the county seat of Wayne County. That year he also served as clerk of Wayne County Courts. He married and had a family.

During the War of 1812, he raised and outfitted troops, serving as a colonel of Wayne County Volunteers.

In 1814 Taul was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fourteenth Congress, serving one term (March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817). He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1816.

Taul resumed his law practice. He moved in 1826 with his family to Winchester, Tennessee, on the southern border of the state, and continued the practice of law.

In 1846 he moved to Mardisville, Alabama, an area that had been ceded in the 1830s by the Creek people to the United States and sold to planters. They used enslaved African Americans to develop plantations and cultivate cotton, the prime commodity crop of the area. These were the years of King Cotton in the Deep South. He operated a plantation until his death there on May 27, 1850. He was interred on his plantation at Mardisville. He was the grandfather of Taul Bradford.

• United States Congress. "Micah Taul (id: T000054)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.