Thomas Contee Worthington (November 25, 1782 – April 12, 1847) was an American politician who served as a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Early life

Thomas Contee Worthington was born on November 25, 1782, near

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

. He was the son of William Worthington III (1747–1820) and Jane Contee (1760–1825). His maternal grandparents were Sarah Fendall (1732–1793) and Thomas Contee (1729–1793), himself the grandson of Thomas Brooke, Jr. (1660–1730). His brothers were William Grafton Delaney Worthington IV (1785–1856), judge and state governor, and secretary of the Territory of East Florida and Walter Brooke Cox Worthington (1795–1845), a member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

. Worthington received a limited schooling. Through his maternal grandfather's sister, Jane Contee (1726–1812), who was married to

John Hanson John Hanson ( – November 15, 1783) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, merchant, and politician from Maryland during the American Revolution, Revolutionary Era. In 1779, Hanson was elected as a delegate to ...

(1721–1783), a delegate to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

who signed the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...

and served as the 9th

President of the Continental Congress The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, known unofficially as the president of the Continental Congress and later as president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the con ...

, he was related to

Alexander Contee Hanson Alexander Contee Hanson (February 27, 1786April 23, 1819) was an American lawyer, publisher, and statesman. He represented the third district of Maryland in the U.S. House, and the state of Maryland in the U.S. Senate. The town of Hanson, Massach ...

(1786–1819), also a U.S. Representative, and later, U.S. Senator from

. He was also the nephew of

Benjamin Contee Benjamin Contee (1755 – November 30, 1815) was an American Episcopal priest and statesman from Maryland. He was an officer in the American Revolutionary War, a delegate to the Confederation Congress, and member of the first United States ...

, an

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

priest, officer in the Revolutionary War, delegate to the

Confederation Congress The Congress of the Confederation, or the Confederation Congress, formally referred to as the United States in Congress Assembled, was the governing body of the United States from March 1, 1781, until March 3, 1789, during the Confederation ...

, and member of the first

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

Career

He served as a captain in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, and later as brigadier general of the Ninth Brigade of the Maryland Militia from 1818 to 1847. He studied law, was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1817, and commenced practice in

. He later moved to

Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in, and the county seat of, Frederick County, Maryland, United States. Frederick's population was 78,171 people as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Maryland, second-largest ...

, in 1818 to serve in the

, and continued the practice of law. Worthington was a

slave owner The following is a list of notable people who owned other people as slaves, where there is a consensus of historical evidence of slavery, slave ownership, in alphabetical order by last name. A * Adelicia Acklen (1817–1887), at one time the ...

United States Congress

Worthington was elected to the Nineteenth Congress, where he served from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1827. He resumed the practice of law in Frederick, and also served as member of the executive council in 1830 under the first State constitution.

Personal life

He died in Frederick, and was interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Thomas Contee 1782 births 1847 deaths Members of the Maryland House of Delegates Maryland lawyers American militiamen in the War of 1812 Fendall family Politicians from Frederick, Maryland National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Frederick, Maryland) American militia generals Contee family Members of the United States House of Representatives who owned slaves 19th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives