Thomas Butler King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Butler King I (1800 – May 10, 1864) was a politician from Georgia.
He was born in Palmer, Massachusetts, the son of Daniel King and Hannah Lord. He attended the Westfield Academy in Massachusetts and studied law under his brother, Henry King in Allentown, Pennsylvania. In 1823 he traveled with his brother, Stephen Clay King, to southeast Georgia and practised law. In 1824 he married Anna Matilda Page (c1800-1859), the daughter of a cotton planter who owned the Retreat Plantation on St. Simons Island. After the deaths of Anna's parents, the Kings made Retreat Plantation their home. They had ten children who survived to adulthood. King made improvements to the Retreat property and in the 1820s bought other neighboring lands and plantations. He later lost these properties to his creditors, when the cotton economy collapsed in the 1830s.
Contents |
[edit] Politics
He was elected to the Georgia legislature in 1832 as a senator from Glynn County, Georgia. He served until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1838. Once elected to the U.S. Congress, King allied himself with the Whig Party, continued the promotion of transportation, including the railway across the isthmus of Panama. He was also a supporter of the US Navy. He expected to be appointed as the Secretary of the Navy under President Zachary Taylor, but was not chosen. King accepted an appointment as Taylor's special agent to the nascent state of California. King stayed on in California as collector of the Port of San Francisco under President Millard Fillmore, failing twice in bids to represent the new state as their U.S. senator. He then went to work as a lobbyist for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
[edit] Death
King returned to Georgia in 1859 to bury both his oldest son, Thomas Butler King II (c1820-1859), and his wife, Anna. In 1861 he accepted the post of Georgia's representative to the courts of Europe and again left his plantation in the hands of his overseer. King returned from Europe in 1862 and died in Waresboro, Georgia, on May 10, 1864.
[edit] See also
[edit] Reference
| Preceded by: Alexander H. Stephens |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 1st congressional district March 4, 1845 - March 3, 1851 |
Succeeded by: Joseph W. Jackson |
