Benjamin Thomas (congressman)

Benjamin Franklin Thomas (February 12, 1813 – September 27, 1878) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts and an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Early years

In 1819, Thomas moved with his parents to Worcester, Massachusetts, and attended Lancaster Academy. He was the grandson of publisher Isaiah Thomas.^[1] He graduated from Rhode Island's Brown University in 1830. Thomas studied law in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was admitted to the bar in 1833 and practiced in Worcester.

Political career

Throughout his life, Thomas held several local offices. In 1842, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He was commissioner of bankruptcy in 1842, judge of probate for Worcester County 1844-1848, and a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1848. Thomas was a justice on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1853 to 1859. Thomas continued the practice of law in Boston. In 1861 he was elected as a Unionist to the 37th Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Charles F. Adams, and served from June 11, 1861, to March 3, 1863. He served on the judiciary committee and the special committee on the bankrupt law. In 1868 he was nominated by the governor for chief justice of Massachusetts, but the nomination was not confirmed by the council. He was president of the American Antiquarian Society.^[2] Thomas died at his home in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts on September 27, 1878, and is interred at Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston.

References

External links

• Benjamin Thomas at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Benjamin Thomas at Find a Grave
• Epitaph