James Thorington

James Thorington
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1857
Preceded by	John Parsons Cook
Succeeded by	Timothy Davis
Personal details
Born	(1816-05-07)May 7, 1816 Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Died	June 13, 1887(1887-06-13) (aged 71) Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory, USA
Political party	Whig Republican
Profession	Attorney

James Thorington (May 7, 1816 - June 13, 1887) was a frontiersman, lawyer, judge, and one-term U.S. Representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district.

Biography

Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Thorington moved with his parents to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1827. He attended the common schools, the military school in Fayetteville, North Carolina from 1830 to 1832, and the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa from 1832 to 1835.

He studied law in Montgomery, Alabama. He interrupted his studies to trap and trade on the upper Missouri and Columbia Rivers from 1837 to 1839. He then moved to Davenport, Iowa, in 1839. After winning election as Davenport's mayor in 1843, he was admitted to the bar in 1844, commenced practice in Davenport, and remained as mayor until 1847. He was probate judge of Scott County, Iowa from 1843 to 1851, and the clerk of the district court from 1846 to 1854.

In 1854, Thorington was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1857). While he was in Congress, the Iowa Republican Party was founded, and he was a charter member. For that reason "he has been styled as the first Republican congressman from Iowa."^[1] In 1856, he was a candidate for the Republican Party's nomination for his seat, but lost at the district convention on the ninth ballot to Timothy Davis, who would go on to win the general election.

After his term ended, Thorington became Scott County's sheriff from 1859 to 1863, and its recorder from 1864 to 1868.

He was appointed consul at Aspinwall, Colombia, on January 21, 1873. He was appointed commercial agent at the same city on May 27, 1873, and served in both positions until October 21, 1882.

He died while on a visit to his daughter at Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory, on June 13, 1887. He was interred in Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport.

References

• James Thorington at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa 1st W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum 2nd Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack 3rd Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young 4th Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King 5th Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King 6th A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy 7th Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle 8th McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven 9th Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey 10th Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist 11th Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell AL Hastings and Leffler Terr Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.