Thomas METCALFE, Congress, KY (1780-1855)

METCALFE, Thomas, a Representative and a Senator from Kentucky; born in Fauquier County, Va., March 20, 1780; moved with his parents to Fayette County, Ky.; attended the common schools; learned the mason’s trade; served as captain in the War of 1812; member, State house of representatives 1812-1816; elected to the Sixteenth and four succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1819, until his resignation June 1, 1828; chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs (Seventeenth Congress), Committee on Militia (Twentieth Congress); Governor of Kentucky 1828-1832; member, State senate 1834-1838; president of the board of internal improvements in 1840; appointed and subsequently elected as a Whig to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John J. Crittenden and served from June 23, 1848, to March 3, 1849; engaged in agricultural pursuits; died near Carlisle, Nicholas County, Ky., August 18, 1855; interment in the family burial ground at ‘Forest Retreat,’ in Nicholas County, Ky.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Morton, Jennie C. “Governor Thomas P. Metcalfe.” Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society (January 1904): 21-25.

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