Thomas Clowes (August 5, 1791 Marblehead,

Essex County, Massachusetts Essex County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the total population was 809,829, making it the third-most populous county in the state, and the eightieth-most populous in the countr ...

- April 9, 1866) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

His father and uncles were seafaring men. While a boy he went to sea with his uncle, making two voyages across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. In 1808, he went to live with an uncle, who had settled in Brunswick, Rensselaer County, New York, with the promise of becoming heir to his property. After the death of his uncle, he went to the county seat

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

, to settle the estate, but eventually remained there and studied law at the office of Ross & McConihe. On July 6, 1818, he married Nancy Cox, but of their children only one daughter reached maturity. He was Surrogate of Rensselaer County from 1821 to 1827. From 1840 to 1844, he was a Canal Appraiser. In November 1846, he was elected on the Whig and Anti-Rent tickets a

Canal Commissioner The Commission to Explore a Route for a Canal to Lake Erie and Report, known as the Erie Canal Commission, was a body created by the New York State Legislature in 1810 to plan the Erie Canal. In 1817 a ''Canal Fund'' led by ''Commissioners of the C ...

. Under the Act of May 6, 1844, there were two canal commissioners to be elected to a four-year term beginning on February 1, 1847, but at the same State election the voters ratified the

New York State Constitution The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

of 1846 which extended the terms of the incumbent commissioners until the end of 1847, calling for a new election in November 1847. Thus Clowes could not take office for his elected term. However, on November 1, 1847, Commissioner Nathaniel Jones resigned, and Clowes was elected by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

on November 15 to fill the vacancy, and remained in office for six weeks, until the end of the year. In 1849, he was appointed by President

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

Postmaster of Troy. In March 1851, he was removed by President

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...

. He was again appointed Postmaster of Troy by President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

in 1862, and re-appointed by President Andrew Johnson, and died in office.

Sources

''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 42f and 417; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
''The New-York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins & Edgar Albert Werner (pages 247f; Weed, Parsons and Co., Albany NY, 1867) *The election in 1846, i
''Political History of the State of New York from January 1, 1841, to January 1, 1847, Vol III, including The Life of Silas Wright''
by

Jabez Delano Hammond Jabez Delano Hammond (August 2, 1778 – August 18, 1855) was an American physician, lawyer, author and politician. Life Hammond was born in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He practiced medicine in Reading, Vermont, but afterward stu ...

(L. W. Hall, Syracuse NY, 1849; page 689)

Federal appointments, among them a new postmaster at Troy, in NYT on May 19, 1866
''The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War''
by Michael F. Holt (Oxford University Press US, 2003, , ; pages 650f)

Bio, and portrait, in ''History of Rensselaer Co., New York'' by Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester (1880) as a few typos {{DEFAULTSORT:Clowes, Thomas 1791 births 1866 deaths Politicians from Troy, New York Erie Canal Commissioners New York (state) postmasters New York (state) state court judges People from Marblehead, Massachusetts 19th-century American judges