Hon. Thomas Ewing (1789-1871) (original) (raw)

"He was the best informed man I had ever met. I never conversed with him for five minutes without being wiser for having done so." Daniel Webster

Thomas Ewingwas the son of George Ewing and the great grandson of Thomas Ewing Sr. and Mary Maskell. He was born 28 December 1789 in West Liberty, Virginia and died 26 October 1871 in Lancaster, Ohio. Thomas married Maria Wills Boyle, daughter of Hugh Boyle and Eleanor Gillispie, on 17 January 1819 at the home of Philemon Beecher in Lancaster, Ohio. They had seven children: Philemon Beecher, George, Ellen Boyle, Hugh Boyle, Thomas, Charles, and Maria Theresa.

Perhaps the most renown of the Ewing men, Thomas Ewing was a United States Senator from Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents William Henry Harrison and John Tyler, Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, trusted advisor to President Andrew Johnson, and a highly successful lawyer.

You can read more about Thomas' lifeand political career and of the high regard to which he was held by his peers, including Daniel Webster. Click on Photo Album to view a collection of photos of Thomas Ewing; the Ewing family; the Zachary Taylor cabinet; the Ewing home in Lancaster, Ohio; and Ewing gravesites. You can also read a Memorial to Thomas Ewing written by the Hon. Henry Stanbery, a close friend. This "Biographical Sketch" was published in the Cincinnati Commercial shortly after the death of Thomas and gives a fascinating insight into Thomas Ewing's early life. You can also read an Excerpt from Sherman: Fighting Prophet, by Lloyd Lewis. This excerpt tells about Thomas' boyhood; the family's time in Waterford fort near Marietta, Ohio; and young Ewing's interest in books and politics.