Alexander Outlaw

Alexander Outlaw (1738–1826) was an American frontiersman and politician, active in the formation and early history of the State of Tennessee. A veteran of the American Revolution, he settled on the Appalachian frontier, in what is now Jefferson County, Tennessee, in the early 1780s. He served simultaneously in the assembly of the failed State of Franklin as well as the legislature of its parent state, North Carolina. He was a delegate to the North Carolina convention that ratified the United States Constitution in 1789, and to the Tennessee state constitutional convention in 1796.[2]

Alexander Outlaw
Speaker of the Tennessee Senate
In office 1799–1801[1]
Preceded by	William Blount
Succeeded by	James White
Personal details
Born	1738 Duplin County, North Carolina
Died	1826 Dallas County, Alabama
Spouse(s)	Penelope (Smith) Outlaw
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	Colonial and state militias
Years of service	1777, 1780s
Rank	Colonel

Outlaw represented Jefferson County in the Tennessee House of Representatives during the First General Assembly (1796). He represented Jefferson in the Tennessee Senate during the Third General Assembly (1799–1801), and was elected Speaker.[3] After his senate term, he focused primarily on land speculation and law. He died in Dallas County, Alabama, in 1826.[2]

Rural Mount, a house built by Outlaw for his son-in-law, Joseph Hamilton, still stands near Morristown, Tennessee, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Outlaw was the grandfather of U.S. Senator Alexander Outlaw Anderson.[2]

References

1. Historical Constitutional Officers of Tennessee, 1796 - present, Territory South of the River Ohio, 1790 - 1796. Accessed: 7 September 2012.
2. Samuel Cole Williams, "Alexander Outlaw," History of the Lost State of Franklin (1933), pp. 324-325.
3. Tennessee Blue Book (1890), pp. 197-198.