Thomas Lyon HAMER, Congress, OH (1800-1846)

HAMER, Thomas Lyon, (uncle of Thomas Ray Hamer), a Representative from Ohio; born in Northumberland County, Pa., in July 1800; attended the public schools; moved to Ohio in 1817 and taught school; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1821 and commenced practice in Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio; member of the State house of representatives in 1825, 1828, and 1829, and served as speaker in 1829; elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses, and reelected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1833-March 3, 1839); nominated Ulysses S. Grant to be a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point; volunteered as a private for the Mexican War and received the next day, July 1, 1846, the commission of brigadier general; had been elected to the Thirtieth Congress, but died in the service at Monterrey, Mexico, December 2, 1846; on March 2, 1847, Congress passed a resolution of sorrow and presented his nearest male relative with a sword; interment near Monterrey, Mexico; reinterment in Georgetown Cemetery, Georgetown, Ohio.

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