David Thomas (New York politician)

See David Thomas for similarly named people

David Thomas in 1807, when he was a Congressman. Engraving by Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin.

David Thomas (June 11, 1762 Pelham, Hampshire County, Massachusetts – November 27, 1831 Providence, Rhode Island) was an American politician. He served three full terms and one partial term in the United States House of Representatives, and three years as New York State Treasurer.

Life

Thomas was educated in Pelham, and was a veteran of the American Revolution. In 1777 he joined a militia unit which traveled from Massachusetts to defend Rhode Island from the British Army. In 1781 he joined the Fifth Massachusetts Regiment as a corporal, and later became a sergeant in the Third Massachusetts Regiment.

He moved to Salem, New York, in 1784, where he owned and operated a tavern for several years. He was commissioned a captain in the New York State Militia in 1786 and rose to the rank of major general of the northern division of the militia in 1805.

He was a member of the New York State Assembly from Washington and Clinton Counties in 1794, and from Washington County from 1798 to 1800. He was town supervisor of Salem from 1797 to 1800, and a justice of the peace from 1798 to 1801, in 1804 and 1811.

Thomas was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th United States Congresses, and served from March 4, 1801, to May 1, 1808, when he resigned.

He was New York State Treasurer from February 5, 1808 to February 8, 1810, and again from February 18, 1812, to February 10, 1813.

Thomas later moved to Providence, Rhode island, where he died on November 27, 1831. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Salem, New York.

Sources

• United States Congress. "David Thomas (id: T000163)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Political Graveyard
• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 35 and 309; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) (Google Books)