Isaac Thomas (November 4, 1784 – February 2, 1859), was an

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politician representing

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

Biography

Thomas was born in

Sevierville, Tennessee Sevierville ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sevier County, Tennessee, located in eastern Tennessee. The population was 17,889 at the 2020 United States Census. History Native Americans of the Woodland period were among the first human ...

. After the death of his parents, Thomas moved to Winchester, Tennessee in 1800. He was self-educated, and he studied law. His first wife was Jane Bullard who died in 1833. He then married Emmeline Flint, with whose family he was in business.

Career

Admitted to

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 1808, Thomas practiced in Winchester. He served as brigadier general of the Louisiana Militia during the War of 1812. Thomas was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to the

Fourteenth Congress The 14th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in the Old Brick Capitol in Washingto ...

, which lasted from March 4, 1815, to March 3, 1817. Thomas moved to Alexandria, Louisiana in 1819 and resumed the practice of law. He purchased vast tracts of land adjoining Alexandria and became one of the largest landowners and slaveholders in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. He was the first man to introduce the cultivation of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

in central Louisiana. While running a plantation, he engaged in mercantile pursuits and in the operation of

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s and

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s. He also served as a member of the Louisiana Senate from 1823 to 1827. He moved to

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in 1849.

Death

Thomas returned to Alexandria, Louisiana, where he died on February 2, 1859 (age 74 years, 90 days). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Flint lot, in Rapides Cemetery, at Pineville, Louisiana.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Issac 1784 births 1859 deaths American planters Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee 19th-century American politicians American slave owners People from Sevierville, Tennessee