Thomas Samuel Ashe
Thomas Samuel Ashe (
19 July 1812 –
4 February 1887) was a
U.S. Congressman from
North Carolina between
1873 and
1877. He had previously served in the
Confederate Congress.
Born in
Hawfields,
Orange County, North Carolina, Ashe attended Bingham's Academy in
Hillsborough, then the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating in
1832. He was admitted to the bar in
1834 and began to practice law in
Wadesboro in
1835.
In
1842, Ashe was elected to a single term in the
North Carolina House of Commons, from
1847 to
1851 he was solicitor of the fifth judicial district of North Carolina, and in
1854, he served in the
North Carolina Senate.
During the
American Civil War, Ashe served in the
Confederate House of Representatives from
1861 to
1864, and was elected to the
Confederate Senate in
1864, but the war concluded before he was able to serve.
In
1866, Ashe was state counselor for
North Carolina, and in
1868, he ran unsuccessfully for
Governor. He was elected for two terms in the
United States House of Representatives, serving from
March 4,
1873 to
March 3,
1877. Although he chose not to run again in
1876, he was elected an associate justice of the
North Carolina Supreme Court in
1878 and re-elected in
1886. Ashe was still serving on the court at the time of the death in Wadesboro in
1887.
Thomas Samuel Ashe was the cousin of fellow Congressmen
John Baptista Ashe and
William Shepperd Ashe.
