Landrine Jehu Tatum (1832-1924)

From the Kansas City Word and Way, July 31, 1924.

   A native son of Ash County, North Carolina, Landrine Jehu Tatum was called to the ministry at an early age, and prior to his permanent settlement in Missouri held pastorates in both Georgia and Arkansas. Following settlement in Missouri in 1864, Tatum's ministerial work in the Baptist church extended over five decades, and briefly graced the political stage in 1886 when he was an unsuccessful aspirant for the Missouri House of Representatives from Hickory County. Born in Ash County on February 22, 1832, Landrine Jehu Tatum was the son Buckner and Behethland (Sheriff) Tatum.

  The majority of Tatum's formative years were spent in the state of his birth, and at age 13 removed with his family to Gilmer County, Georgia. Two years later he was called to the ministry, and in October 1847 was baptized in the Mountaintown Baptist Church. Shortly afterward a church was organized in the neighboring settlement of Pleasant Hill, where Tatum was named as church clerk. After being licensed to preach in 1851, Tatum began a teaching career in Gilmer and Murray County that would extend over a year and later undertook theological study at Mercer University in Georgia.

  Following ordination in April 1856, Tatum left Georgia for Arkansas, and after a brief residency there removed to Texas, where he taught school for several months. He later returned to Arkansas where during the Civil War he ministered "to both Federals and Confederates." Tatum married in May 1863 to Margarette Jane (Clonts) Sheriff (1835-1914), a widow with three children from a prior marriage. The couple's five-decade union saw the births of four daughters, Theodosia (1864-1930), Georgia (1866-1958), Margaret (1869-1872), and a child who died in infancy.

  In 1864 Tatum left Arkansas for Missouri and soon after his resettlement in Hickory County entered into a pastorate at the Mt. Moriah Church in Dooley Bend. Three years following his establishing roots in that community Tatum became a founding member of the Old Path Baptist Association, and after its organization served as its clerk and moderator at various times over the next three decades. Tatum's work for the church also saw him affiliated with the American Baptist Publican Society, as a distributor of religious publications.

  Landrine J. Tatum's lone foray into Missouri politics came in 1886 when he garnered the Democratic nomination for state representative from Hickory County. One of three candidates in that year's contest, Tatum would place second to incumbent Republican William Lucas Snidow (1829-1903), who had served six prior terms in both the state senate and house of representatives.

From the Official Manual of the State of Missouri, 1887-88.

  The latter portion of Tatum's life saw him continue prominence in Baptist church work, and in 1914 suffered the death of his wife Margarette. He celebrated his 90th birthday in 1922 and later died at the home of his daughter Theodosia on April 21, 1924, aged 92. He was later interred at the Dooley Bend Cemetery in Galmey, Missouri.

From the History of the Polk County Baptist Association, 1897.