Thomas H. Carter
| Thomas Henry Carter | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 13th Chairman of the Republican National Committee | |
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In office 1892–1896 |
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| Preceded by | James S. Clarkson |
| Succeeded by | Marcus Hanna |
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United States Senator from Montana |
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In office March 4, 1895 – March 4, 1901 March 4, 1905 – March 4, 1911 |
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| Preceded by |
Thomas C. Power Paris Gibson |
| Succeeded by |
William A. Clark Henry L. Myers |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Montana's At-large district |
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In office November 8, 1889 – March 3, 1891 |
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| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | Charles S. Hartman |
| Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Montana Territory's At-large district | |
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In office March 4, 1889 – November 7, 1889 |
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| Preceded by | Joseph K. Toole |
| Succeeded by | statehood achieved |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 30, 1854 Junior Furnace, Ohio |
| Died | September 17, 1911 (aged 56) Washington, D.C. |
| Spouse(s) | Ellen Lillian (Galen) Carter |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer, Farmer, Salesman, Teacher |
Thomas Henry Carter (October 30, 1854 – September 17, 1911) was a territorial delegate, a United States Representative, and a U.S. Senator from Montana. The child of Irish immigrants, Carter rose from a childhood spent on small farms in the Midwest to become one of the most successful and popular politicians in the early history of the State of Montana. He also made a name for himself within the national Republican Party, becoming in 1892 the first Catholic to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Carter was born to Irish immigrant parents on October 30, 1854, in a small village known as Junior Furnace, near Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio. His parents, Edward and Margaret (Byrnes) Carter, came to the United States in 1849 or 1850 following the Irish Potato Famine. They were married in Wheeling, West Virginia, shortly after their arrival in the U.S., Edward converting to Catholicism from the Anglican Church due to Margaret's influence. The Carters settled in Junior Furnace, Ohio by 1852 when their first son, Richard, was born. Shortly after Thomas' birth in 1854 the family moved to a farm a few miles from Junior Furnace.
Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, the Carters used their savings and moved to Pana, Illinois, where young Tommy Carter attended the common schools and worked on his parent's farm. Edward Carter instilled in his children a love for reading and with it a love of learning. Early in his adult life, following his family's loss of their farm due to a lightning-caused fire burning their barn and killing their farm animals, Thomas Carter engaged in railroad work and school teaching. For several years, Carter worked as a travelling salesman for a book publisher based in Burlington, Iowa. After the premature death of his mother to pneumonia in March 1879, Carter moved his two younger sisters, Julia and Margaret, and a younger brother, Edward Jr., to be with him in Burlington, Iowa, where he now worked as head of the sales department of the publishing company, while their father worked in Kentucky. Thomas and his sisters formed a particular bond in these years in Burlington as he supported them and cared for them as a father. After many long years of studying the law, Carter finally passed the bar examination in Nebraska while there on a business trip (likely in 1881, though the record is unclear).
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