Thomas Hendricks Biography

Dromo's Den

HENDRICKS, Thomas Andrews (1819-85). An American politician. He was born near Zanesville, Ohio, was early taken by his parents to Indiana, graduated at South Hanover College in 1841, and two years later was admitted to the bar. He practiced his profession with success in Indiana, was a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania Legislature and the State Constitutional Convention of 1851, and was a member of Congress from 1851 to 1855. Appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office by President Pierce, he served until 1859. He was United States Senator from 1863 to 1869 and in 1868 was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President. In the next presidential election, the Democratic candidate, Horace Greeley, having died before the casting of the electoral votes, they were given to Hendricks. He was Governor of Indiana from 1873 to 1877. He ran for Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Samuel J. Tilden in 1876 and was elected Vice President in 1884 on the ticket with Grover Cleveland, but died Nov. 25, 1885.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 137.