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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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