Thomas H. Seymour

Infobox Governor
name= Thomas Hart Seymour


caption=
order=51^st
office= Governor of Connecticut
term_start= May 4, 1850
term_end= October 13, 1853
lieutenant= Charles H. Pond (1850-1851)
Green Kendrick (1851-1852)
Charles H. Pond (1852-1853)
predecessor= Joseph Trumbull
successor= Charles H. Pond
birth_date= September 29, 1807
birth_place= Hartford, Connecticut
death_date= death date and age|1868|9|3|1807|9|29
death_place= Hartford, Connecticut
spouse=
profession= Politician, Lawyer
party= Democrat
footnotes=

Thomas Hart Seymour (September 29, 1807ndash September 3, 1868) was a Democratic politician and lawyer from Connecticut. He served as Governor of Connecticut from 1850 to 1853 and as Minister to Russia from 1853 to 1858.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Seymour public schools as a child and graduated from Middletown Military Academy in Middletown, Connecticut in 1829. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1833, commencing practice in Hartford. He was editor of the "Jeffersonian" from 1837 to 1838 and was a judge of probate from 1836 to 1838. In 1842, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served one term, declining reelection in 1844.

During the Mexican-American War, Seymour was commissioned as a major in the Connecticut Infantry on March 16, 1846, later recommissioned to the new 9th United States Infantry on April 9, 1847 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 12th Infantry under Colonel Milledge L. Bonham on August 12, 1847. After the war, he made an unsuccessful run for Governor of Connecticut in 1849, but was chosen the next year in 1850.

Shortly after being reelected to a fourth term in 1853, Seymour resigned from the governorship to accept the commission of Minister to Russia from President Franklin Pierce. He served in this position until 1858 when President James Buchanan replaced him with Francis W. Pickens. He made two unsuccessful attempts to return to the governorship in 1860 and 1863 and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States at the 1864 Democratic National Convention, losing to Civil War General George B. McClellan.

Seymour died in Hartford, Connecticut on September 3, 1868 and was interned in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

References

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7372252 Thomas H. Seymour] at Find A Grave