MORRIS, Thomas, Congress, OH (1776-1844)

Senate Years of Service: 1833-1837; 1837-1839
Party: Jacksonian; Democrat

MORRIS, Thomas, (father of Isaac Newton Morris and Jonathan David Morris), a Senator from Ohio; born in Berks County, Pa., January 3, 1776; settled with his parents near Clarksburg, now West Virginia; briefly attended the common schools; enlisted as a ranger and fought against the Indians in 1793; moved to Columbia, Ohio (now a part of Cincinnati) in 1795 and clerked in a store; moved to Bethel, Ohio, in 1800; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1804 and commenced practice in Bethel, Ohio; member, State house of representatives 1806-1808, 1810, 1820-1821; member, State senate 1813-1815, 1821-1823, 1825-1829, and 1831-1833; elected as a Jacksonian to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1833, to March 3, 1839; was not a candidate for renomination; chairman, Committee on Engrossed Bills (Twenty-fourth Congress), Committee on Pensions (Twenty-fifth Congress); engaged in agricultural pursuits; unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States on the Liberty ticket in 1844; died at his home near Bethel, Clermont County, Ohio, December 7, 1844; interment in First Bethel Cemetery.

Bibliography American National Biography ; Dictionary of American Biography ; Morris, Benjamin. The Life of Thomas Morris: Pioneer and Long a Legislator of Ohio . Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach, Keys, and Overend, 1856; Neuenschwander, John. “Senator Thomas Morris: Antagonist of the South, 1836-1839.” Cincinnati Historical Society Bulletin 32 (Fall 1974): 123-39.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present