Thomas J. Drake

Thomas Jefferson Drake (born April 18, 1799 in Scipio , Cayuga County , New York , †  April 20, 1875 in Pontiac , Michigan ) was an American politician . Between February 1841 and January 1842 he was acting lieutenant governor of the state of Michigan.

Career

Nothing is known about Thomas Drake's youth and schooling. But he must have studied law because he later served as a judge. In 1822 he came to Pontiac, Michigan , where he embarked on a political career. Between 1828 and 1831 he was a member of the Territorial Government Council; in 1834 he became a member of the Territorial Senate. Around this time he joined the Whig Party , which was then founded . In December 1839 he took part as a delegate at their federal party conference in Harrisburg . In the presidential election of 1840 he was one of the electors who officially elected William Henry Harrison President. From 1839 to 1841 he sat in the Michigan Senate , whose President Pro Tempore he was in 1841.

After the resignation of Governor William Woodbridge, his lieutenant governor James Wright Gordon advanced to the highest office of the state. According to the state constitution, the President Pro Tempore of the State Senate, i.e. Thomas Drake, became acting vice-governor. He held this office between February 23, 1841 and January 3, 1842. He was Deputy Governor and official chairman of the State Senate. He then ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the US House of Representatives .

After the dissolution of the Whigs, Drake joined the Republican Party, founded in 1854 . In June 1856 he was a delegate to the first Republican National Convention in Philadelphia , on which John C. Frémont was nominated as a candidate for president. In the presidential election that year he was the official elector for Frémont, who was defeated by the Democrat James Buchanan . Between 1862 and 1869, Drake served as a judge on the Utah Territory Supreme Court . He died on April 20, 1875 in Pontiac, where he was also buried.

Web links

• Thomas J. Drake in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• The Political Graveyard