Up for auction the "26th Governor of Maryland" Francis Thomas Hand Signed 2.75X5 Card.

ES-402A

Francis Thomas (February 3, 1799 – January 22, 1876)

was a Maryland

politician who served as the 26th Governor of Maryland from 1842 to

1845. He also served as a United States Representative

from Maryland,

representing at separate times the fourth,

fifth,

sixth,

and seventh

districts. Thomas was born

in Frederick County, Maryland, close to South Mountain, known as

"Merryland tract", and attended St. John's College of Annapolis, Maryland. He later studied law, and

was admitted to the bar in 1820, commencing practice in Frankville, Maryland.

He entered politics after becoming a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1822, 1827,

and 1829, and served the last year as 34th Speaker of the House. Thomas

was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-second through Twenty-fourth Congresses and as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses, serving from

March 4, 1831 until March 3, 1841). In Congress, he served as chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary

(Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Congresses), and as a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs

(Twenty-sixth Congress). He also served as president of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company in

1839 and 1840.