Thomas Peter Akers

Who was Thomas Peter Akers?

Thomas Peter Akers was an attorney, college professor, and member of the United States House of Representatives from 1856 to 1857. He was born in Knox County, Ohio, where he graduated from college and studied law.

He became a school teacher in Kentucky, and moved later, in 1853, to Lexington, Missouri. He became a professor of mathematics and moral philosophy at Masonic College in Lexington, as well as the pastor of a local Methodist church there.

On August 18, 1856 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Know Nothing to fill a vacant seat. He remained in that position through the next election.

He moved to New York City in 1861, and became a vice president of the gold board. He subsequently moved to Utah Territory because of ill health, and eventually returned to Lexington, Missouri, where he died in 1877.