Thomas J. Speer

Who was Thomas J. Speer?

Thomas Jefferson Speer was a U.S. Representative from Georgia.

Born in Monroe County, Georgia, Speer attended the common schools. He engaged in mercantile pursuits and as a planter.

Speer was elected Justice of the Peace in 1861 and reelected in 1865. He was appointed collector of Confederate taxes for Pike County in June 1863, serving until the end of the American Civil War.

Speer was elected justice of the inferior court for Pike County in 1865, serving until July 1868. He served as delegate to the State constitutional convention 1867-1868. He served as member of the State senate 1868-1870.

Speer was elected as a Republican to the Forty-second Congress and served from March 4, 1871, until his death in Barnesville, Georgia, August 18, 1872. He was interred in Zebulon Street Cemetery.