Thomas H. Carter

Thomas Henry Carter (October 30, 1854 – September 17, 1911) was a delegate, a United States Representative, and a U.S. Senator from Montana.

Early life

Carter was born near Portsmouth, Ohio, and later his family moved to Pana, Illinois. Carter attended the common schools in Illinois. He engaged in farming, school teaching, and railroading; at the same time studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1882, he moved from Burlington, Iowa, to Helena, Montana. In Montana he was elected as a Republican Delegate to the Fifty-first Congress and served from March 4, 1889, to November 7, 1889, when the Territory was admitted as a State into the Union; elected as its first Representative and served from November 8, 1889, to March 3, 1891.

Career in Government

He served as chairman of the Committee on Mines and Mining (Fifty-first Congress). He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1890 for reelection; Commissioner of the General Land Office 1891-1892, when he was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee.

He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1895, until March 3, 1901. As a Senator he was chairman of the Committee on Relations with Canada (Fifty-fourth Congress), the Committee on the Census (Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses). President William McKinley appointed him a member of the board of commissioners of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and served as its president; again elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1905, to March 3, 1911. He was not a candidate for reelection. He died in Washington, D.C., September 17, 1911. Carter County, Montana is named in his honor.

References

• Thomas H. Carter at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress