THAYER, John Milton (1820-1906)

Republican of Nebraska

0th congressional district

Served in Senate 1867-1871

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Biography

a Senator from Nebraska; born in Bellingham, Mass., January 24, 1820; graduated from Brown University, Providence, R.I., in 1841; studied law; admitted to the bar and practiced; editor of a journal; moved to Nebraska in 1854, engaged in agricultural pursuits, and practiced law in Omaha; brigadier general and major general of the Territorial forces operating against the Pawnee Indians 1855-1861; member, Territorial State senate 1860; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1860; during the Civil War served in the Union Army as colonel and then brigadier general of the First Regiment, Nebraska Volunteer Infantry; brevetted major general of Volunteers in 1865; member of the State constitutional convention in 1866; upon the admission of Nebraska as a State into the Union was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 1, 1867, to March 3, 1871; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1871; chairman, Committee on Enrolled Bills (Forty-first Congress); appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as Governor of the Territory of Wyoming 1875-1879; Governor of Nebraska 1887-1891; resumed the practice of law in Lincoln, Nebr., and died there March 19, 1906; interment in Wyuka Cemetery.
Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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