Thomas Kirker

Thomas Kirker
Thomas Kirker
2nd Governor of Ohio
	In office; March 4, 1807 – December 12, 1808
Preceded by	Edward Tiffin
Succeeded by	Samuel Huntington
4th Speaker of the Senate of Ohio
	In office; December 1, 1806 – December 3, 1809
Preceded by	James Pritchard
Succeeded by	Duncan McArthur
	In office; December 3, 1810 – December 5, 1813
Preceded by	Duncan McArthur
Succeeded by	Othniel Looker
	In office; December 5, 1814 – December 3, 1815
Preceded by	Othniel Looker
Succeeded by	Peter Hitchcock
11th Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives
	In office; December 2, 1816 – November 30, 1817
Preceded by	Matthias Corwin
Succeeded by	Duncan McArthur
Member of the Ohio Senate
	In office; 1803–1815; 1821–1825
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
	In office; 1803; 1816–1817
Personal details
Born	c. 1760; County Tyrone, Kingdom of Ireland
Died	February 19, 1837 (aged 76–77); Adams County, Ohio, U.S.
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic-Republican

Thomas Kirker (c. 1760 – February 19, 1837) was a Democratic-Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the second governor of Ohio.

Biography

Kirker was born in County Tyrone in the Kingdom of Ireland. He moved with his family to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1779.^[1] Kirker married Sarah Smith in 1790, and moved with his wife to Kentucky. Three years later, they moved to Liberty Township, Adams County, Ohio.^[2] Kirker was a consistent Presbyterian, serving as an elder in the West Union congregation from 1808 until his death.^[3]

Career

He was a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1802.^[4] He served in the first Ohio House of Representatives in 1803 and then in the Ohio State Senate from 1803 to 1815.

While serving as Speaker of the Senate, Kirker became Governor upon the resignation of Edward Tiffin to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. Kirker's term was extended through the 1807–1808 meeting of the Assembly due to the disqualification of Return J. Meigs Jr. who had won the 1807 election to the governorship but had been disqualified by the Assembly as he had not met the residency requirements.^[5]

Kirker ran for re-election in 1808, but lost badly to Samuel Huntington. Kirker later returned to the Assembly, serving in the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1817 and in the State Senate from 1821 to 1825.^[2]

He was the Ohio Presidential elector in 1824 for Henry Clay.^[6]

Kirker retired from politics, and returned to his home at his Liberty Township farm. He died on February 19, 1837.^[7] Upon his death he was buried in a family burial plot on the farm.^[5]

References

^ "Thomas Kirker". Ohio Historical Society. Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ ^a ^b "Thomas Kirker". Ohio History Central. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
^ Evans, Nelson W., and Emmons B. Stivers. A History of Adams County, Ohio from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time: Including Character Sketches of the Prominent Persons Identified with the First Century of the County's Growth and Containing Numerous Engravings and Illustrations. West Union: Stivers, 1900, 257.
^ Ryan, Daniel Joseph (1896). "First Constitutional Convention, Convened November 1, 1802". Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications. V: 131–132.
^ ^a ^b "Thomas Kirker". Ohio Historical Society. Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
^ Taylor, William Alexander; Taylor, Aubrey Clarence (1899). Ohio statesmen and annals of progress: from the year 1788 to the year 1900 ... Vol. 1. State of Ohio. p. 145.
^ The Ohio politics almanac