Thomas White FERRY, Congress, MI (1827-1896)

FERRY, Thomas White, a Representative and a Senator from Michigan; born in the old mission house of the Astor Fur Co. on Mackinac Island, Mich., June 10, 1827; moved with his parents to Grand Haven, Mich.; attended the public schools; engaged in mercantile pursuits; member, State house of representatives 1850-1852; member, State senate 1856; delegate to the Loyalist Convention at Philadelphia in 1866; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1871); reelected to the Forty-second Congress, but resigned, having been elected Senator; elected to the United States Senate in 1871, reelected in 1877, and served from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1883; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1882; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses; chairman, Committee on Rules (Forty-third through Forty-fifth Congresses), Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Forty-fifth and Forty-seventh Congresses); presided over the high court of impeachment of Secretary of War William Belknap and over the sixteen joint meetings of the Senate and House of Representatives during the Hayes-Tilden presidential electoral contest in 1877; died in Grand Haven, Mich., October 13, 1896; interment in Lake Forest Cemetery.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Ziewacz, Lawrence E. “The Eighty-First Ballot: The Senatorial Struggle of 1883.” Michigan History 56 (Fall 1972): 216-32.

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