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Thomas Spalding

American politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ2427376 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Spalding (March 25, 1774 – January 4, 1851) was a United States representative from Georgia. He was born in Frederica, Georgia, St. Simons Island, Glynn County, Georgia. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1795, but did not practice. He engaged extensively in agricultural pursuits and is widely known for owning slaves

Early life

Thomas Spalding was born March 25, 1774, at Frederica on St. Simons Island to James Spalding and Margery McIntosh. His father was one of the earliest planters to experiment with growing Sea Island Cotton. His father was part of Clan Spalding and traced his ancestry back to the lairds of Ashintully Castle. Thomas Spalding would later in life name his Darien, Georgia mansion after his ancestral Scottish home. Spalding's father was an Indian trader, planter, and held a number of political posts prior to the American Revolution.

Editorial summary

“Thomas Spalding” enters the record as american politician. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thomas, Spalding and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1774, 1851, 1795—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1774-03-25. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Thomas, Spalding and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Thomas Spalding” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Thomas, Spalding and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2427376. VIAF identifies the subject as 34813332. The Library of Congress control number is n88142758. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1774, 1851 and 1795.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas Spalding”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thomas Spalding primary sources, Thomas Spalding archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas Spalding”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Spalding” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.