Benjamin Thomas (congressman)

For other persons named Benjamin Thomas, see Benjamin Thomas (disambiguation).

Benjamin Franklin Thomas, (February 12, 1813 — September 27, 1878), was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. In 1819, Thomas moved with his parents to Worcester, Massachusetts and attended Lancaster Academy. 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. 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 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, and in 1861 he was elected as a Unionist to the Thirty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Charles F. Adams and served from June 11, 1861 to March 3, 1863. Thomas died at his home in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts on September 27, 1878 and is interred at Forrest Hill Cemetery in Boston.

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Preceded by Charles Francis Adams, Sr.	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district June 11, 1861 – March 3, 1863	Succeeded by Alexander H. Rice