Thomas Henry Nelson (October 24, 1821 – March 14, 1896) was a U.S. diplomat and politician from Indiana. Nelson was born in Minerva, Mason County, Kentucky to Dr. Thomas W. Nelson and Frances Doniphan Nelson. On Dec 11, 1843 in Aberdeen, Ohio, Thomas married Elizabeth "Lizzie" Key, the daughter of Marshall Key and Harriet Sellman Key. She was a student of

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...

. The Nelsons moved to Rockville, Indiana, where he set up a law practice. A few years later, the couple moved to

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

. In 1852 he was on the Board of Commissioners for the construction of the Springfield and Terre Haute Railroad. During the 1850s, he was tasked with organizing the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

in Indiana. In 1860, he unsuccessfully ran for the United States Congress. He was appointed U.S. Envoy to Chile in 1861 by Abraham Lincoln. On December 8, 1863, he organized rescue operations during the catastrophic Church of the Company Fire in Santiago and was called "a true hero of Chile" for doing so. He was made U.S. Envoy to Mexico from 1869 to 1873 by Ulysses S. Grant. Nelson died in Terre Haute, on March 14, 1896, and is buried there in Woodlawn Cemetery.Database-Thomas H. Nelson
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1824 births 1896 deaths Politicians from Terre Haute, Indiana People from Mason County, Kentucky Indiana lawyers 19th-century American diplomats Ambassadors of the United States to Chile Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico 19th-century American lawyers {{Indiana-politician-stub