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| Image courtesy of the Library of Congress |
KING, Thomas Butler, (brother of Henry King and father of John Floyd King),
a Representative from Georgia; born in Palmer, Hampden County,
Mass., August 27, 1800; received private instructions and also attended
Westfield Academy; read law with his brother at Allentown, Pa.; was admitted to
the bar in Philadelphia in 1822 and commenced practice in Waynesville, Ga., in
1823; settled on St. Simons Island, Ga., in 1826 and engaged in agricultural
pursuits; also interested in canal and railroad projects; member of the State
senate in 1832, 1834, 1835, and 1837; delegate to the State constitutional
convention in 1833 and to the State Whig conventions in 1835 and 1843;
unsuccessful candidate for election in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress;
elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4,
1839-March 3, 1843); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1842 to the
Twenty-eighth Congress; delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1844;
elected to the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses and served
from March 4, 1845, until his resignation in 1850; chairman, Committee on Naval
Affairs (Thirtieth Congress); appointed by President Fillmore as collector of
the port of San Francisco, Calif., October 14, 1850, and served until October
1, 1852, when he resigned; returned to St. Simons Island, Ga.; again a member
of the State senate in 1859; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at
Baltimore in 1860; appointed a commissioner of Georgia in 1861 to visit Europe
in the interest of trade, and was a commissioner of the Confederacy in Europe
1861-1863; died in Waresboro, Ware County, Ga., May 10, 1864; interment in the
churchyard of Christ Church, Frederica, St. Simons Island, Ga.
BibliographySteel, Edward M., Jr.
T. Butler King of Georgia. Athens: University of Georgia
Press, 1964.
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