Thetus W. Sims

Thetus Willrette Sims was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 8th congressional district of Tennessee. He was born on April 25, 1852 near Waynesboro, Tennessee in Wayne County. He attended a private school at Martin Mills and moved with his parents to Savannah, Tennessee in Hardin County in 1862. He attended Savannah (Tennessee) College and graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee in June 1876. He was admitted to the bar the same year. He commenced practice in Linden, Tennessee in Perry County. He was the superintendent of public instruction for Perry County, Tennessee from 1882 to 1884.

Thetus Sims was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fifth and to the eleven succeeding Congresses. He served from March 4, 1897 to March 3, 1921, but he was not a successful candidate for renomination in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress. During the Sixty-second Congress, he was the chairman of the United States House Committee on War Claims. He was the chairman of the United States House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce during the Sixty-fifth Congress. He resumed the practice of law in Lexington, Tennessee in Henderson County. He retired from active business pursuits in 1930 and moved to Washington, D.C., where he died on December 17, 1939. He was interred in Rock Creek Cemetery.