Thomas Butler KING, Congress, GA (1800-1864)

KING, Thomas Butler, (brother of Henry King and father of John Floyd King), a Representative from Georgia; born in Palmer, Hampden County, Mass., August 27, 1800; received private instructions and also attended Westfield Academy; read law with his brother at Allentown, Pa.; was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1822 and commenced practice in Waynesville, Ga., in 1823; settled on St. Simons Island, Ga., in 1826 and engaged in agricultural pursuits; also interested in canal and railroad projects; member of the State senate in 1832, 1834, 1835, and 1837; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1833 and to the State Whig conventions in 1835 and 1843; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1836 to the Twenty-fifth Congress; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1839-March 3, 1843); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1842 to the Twenty-eighth Congress; delegate to the Whig National Convention in 1844; elected to the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses and served from March 4, 1845, until his resignation in 1850; chairman, Committee on Naval Affairs (Thirtieth Congress); appointed by President Fillmore as collector of the port of San Francisco, Calif., October 14, 1850, and served until October 1, 1852, when he resigned; returned to St. Simons Island, Ga.; again a member of the State senate in 1859; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore in 1860; appointed a commissioner of Georgia in 1861 to visit Europe in the interest of trade, and was a commissioner of the Confederacy in Europe 1861-1863; died in Waresboro, Ware County, Ga., May 10, 1864; interment in the churchyard of Christ Church, Frederica, St. Simons Island, Ga.

Bibliography

Steel, Edward M., Jr. T. Butler King of Georgia. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1964.

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