John R. Thomas

Who was John R. Thomas?

John Robert Thomas was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.

Born in Mount Vernon, Illinois, Thomas attended the common schools and Hunter Collegiate Institute, Princeton, Indiana. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and rose from the rank of private to that of captain of Company D, One Hundred and Twentieth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1869 and practiced. City attorney of Metropolis, Illinois, 1869 and 1870. He served as State's attorney 1871-1874.

Thomas was elected as a Republican to the Forty-sixth and to the four succeeding Congresses. He served as chairman of the Committee on Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1888. He resumed the practice of law in Muskogee, Oklahoma. United States judge in the Indian Territory from June 30, 1897, to June 30, 1901. Nominated for judge of the supreme court by the first Republican State convention of Oklahoma, but declined the nomination. He served as member of the Oklahoma State Code Commission 1908-1910. He resumed the practice of law in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He died in McAlester, Oklahoma, January 19, 1914.