Thomas Kirker
{{Short description|American politician (1760–1837)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name =Thomas Kirker
|image =Thomas Kirker at statehouse.jpg
|order =2nd
|office =Governor of Ohio
|term_start =March 4, 1807
|term_end =December 12, 1808
|predecessor =Edward Tiffin
|successor =Samuel Huntington
|order1 =4th
|office1 =Speaker of the Senate of Ohio
|term_start1 =December 1, 1806
|term_end1 =December 3, 1809
|predecessor1 =James Pritchard
|successor1 =Duncan McArthur
|term_start2 =December 3, 1810
|term_end2 =December 5, 1813
|predecessor2 =Duncan McArthur
|successor2 =Othniel Looker
|term_start3 =December 5, 1814
|term_end3 =December 3, 1815
|predecessor3 =Othniel Looker
|successor3 =Peter Hitchcock
|office4 =11th Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives
|term_start4 =December 2, 1816
|term_end4 =November 30, 1817
|predecessor4 =Matthias Corwin
|successor4 =Duncan McArthur
|office5 =Member of the Ohio Senate
|term5 =1803–1815
1821–1825
|office6 =Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
|term6 =1803
1816–1817
|birth_date = c. 1760
|birth_place =County Tyrone, Kingdom of Ireland
|death_date ={{death date and given age|1837|2|19|76–77}}
|death_place =Adams County, Ohio, U.S.
|nationality = American
|party =Democratic-Republican
|spouse =
|relations =
|children =
|residence =
|alma_mater =
|occupation =
|profession =
|signature =
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
Thomas Kirker (c. 1760{{spnd}}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.{{cite web|url=http://www.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/ohgovernment/governors/kirker.html|title=Thomas Kirker|publisher=Ohio Historical Society|accessdate=July 11, 2012|url-status=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513031859/http://www.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/ohgovernment/governors/kirker.html|archivedate=May 13, 2012|df=mdy-all}} Kirker married Sarah Smith in 1790, and moved with his wife to Kentucky. Three years later, they moved to Liberty Township, Adams County, Ohio.{{cite web| url= http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=228|title= Thomas Kirker|publisher=Ohio History Central|accessdate=July 11, 2012}} Kirker was a consistent Presbyterian, serving as an elder in the West Union congregation from 1808 until his death.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.
Career
He was a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1802.{{cite journal|last1=Ryan|first1=Daniel Joseph|year=1896|title=First Constitutional Convention, Convened November 1, 1802|journal=Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications|volume=V|pages=131–132|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXQUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA80}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/ohgovernment/governors/kirker.html|title=Thomas Kirker|publisher=Ohio Historical Society|accessdate=July 12, 2012|archive-date=May 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513031859/http://www.ohiohistory.org/onlinedoc/ohgovernment/governors/kirker.html|url-status=dead}}
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.
He was the Ohio Presidential elector in 1824 for Henry Clay.{{cite book |title=Ohio statesmen and annals of progress: from the year 1788 to the year 1900 ... |first1=William Alexander |last1=Taylor |first2=Aubrey Clarence |last2=Taylor |year=1899 |publisher=State of Ohio |volume=1 |ref=taylor1899|page=145
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztegAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA145}}
Kirker retired from politics, and returned to his home at his Liberty Township farm. He died on February 19, 1837.[https://books.google.com/books?id=iUwVAQAAIAAJ The Ohio politics almanac] Upon his death he was buried in a family burial plot on the farm.
See also
{{Portal|Biography}}
References
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
{{navboxes|title=Offices and distinctions|list=
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef | before=Edward Tiffin}}
{{s-ttl |title=Governor of Ohio | years=1807–1808}}
{{s-aft | after=Samuel Huntington}}
{{s-bef | before=James Pritchard}}
{{s-ttl |title=Speaker of the Ohio Senate | years=1806–1809}}
{{s-aft | after=Duncan McArthur}}
{{s-bef | before=Duncan McArthur}}
{{s-ttl |title=Speaker of the Ohio Senate | years=1810–1813}}
{{s-aft | after=Othniel Looker}}
{{s-bef | before=Othniel Looker}}
{{s-ttl |title=Speaker of the Ohio Senate | years=1814–1815}}
{{s-aft | after=Peter Hitchcock}}
{{s-bef | before=Matthias Corwin}}
{{s-ttl |title=Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives | years=1816–1817}}
{{s-aft | after=Duncan McArthur}}
{{s-par|us-oh-hs}}
{{s-new | district}}
{{s-ttl |title=Representative from Adams County | years=1803 | alongside=Joseph Lucas, William Russell}}
{{s-aft | after=Daniel Collier
Abraham Shepherd
John Wright | as=Representatives from Adams and Scioto Counties}}
{{s-bef | before=John Wilson Campbell
Josiah Lockhart}}
{{s-ttl |title=Representative from Adams County | years=1816–1817 | alongside=John Ellison Jr.}}
{{s-aft | after=William Middleton
Robert Morrison}}
{{s-par|us-oh-sen}}
{{s-bef | before=Joseph Darlinton | as=Senator from Adams County}}
{{s-ttl |title=Senator from Adams and Scioto Counties | years=1803–1808}}
{{s-non | reason=District eliminated}}
{{s-new|district}}
{{s-ttl |title=Senator from Adams County | years=1808–1815}}
{{s-aft | after=Abraham Shepherd}}
{{s-bef | before=William Russell}}
{{s-ttl |title=Senator from Adams County | years=1821–1825}}
{{s-aft | after=Abraham Shepherd | as=Senator from Adams and Brown Counties}}
{{s-end}}
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{{Governors of Ohio}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirker, Thomas}}
Category:American Presbyterians
Category:Speakers of the Ohio House of Representatives
Category:Presidents of the Ohio Senate
Category:People from Adams County, Ohio
Category:Ohio Democratic-Republicans
Category:Ohio Constitutional Convention (1802)
Category:1824 United States presidential electors
Category:Irish emigrants to the United States
Category:Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States