From Northern Alabama, Historical and Biographical by Smith & DeLand
Chicago: Donohue & Henneberry, Printers and Binders, 1888
p. 223.

THOMAS MORRISON TARTT born in North Carolina April 1, 1821. He was adopted by an uncle, whose name was the same as his own, and was reared by him from the age of ten. He received his education at Philadelphia and Columbus, Ohio. While still quite young, his uncle placed him in charge of a farm near Gainesville, Ala., but he had no taste for farming, and soon entered a commission house at Mobile—Tartt, Stewart & Co., --of which his uncle was the head. Here he developed the remarkable traits of his character which afterward made him so successful as a merchant. In 1866 he was married to Annie Maria Jones, near Sumterville, and they, in 1867 moved to Livingston, where Mr. Tartt went into business as a merchant, and continued it until his death. As a business man, Mr. Tartt’s life was particularly worthy of attention.

He sailed through the hard times of 1873. The commercial crash carried down hundreds of the leading merchants of that country, but he was one of the few who came out unhurt. He succeeded in accumulating a fortune, where others could secure but a competency, and was one of the men who could successfully compete with the "Sheeney" system of advancing, now in vogue in that country.

Mr. Tartt was a public-spirited, philanthropic citizen, and as such was highly esteemed by the community in which he lived. He died in Livingston in 1885. His wife was reared by an uncle, the Rev. D. P. Bestor, a Baptist minister of this State, who was quite prominent in his day.