Martin Russell Thayer

Martin Russell Thayer ( born January 27, 1819 Dinwiddie County, Virginia; † October 14, 1906 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ) was an American politician. Between 1863 and 1867 he represented the State of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Martin Thayer was a cousin of Sylvanus Thayer (1785-1872), who led the United States Military Academy at West Point 1817-1833. He attended Mount Pleasant Classical Institute in Amherst ( Massachusetts) and the local Amherst College. In 1837 he moved with his father to Philadelphia, where he studied at the University of Pennsylvania until 1840. After a subsequent law degree in 1842 and its recent approval as a lawyer, he started working in Philadelphia in this profession. Later he hit as a member of the Republican Party, founded in 1854, launched a political career. In 1862 he was charged with the revision of the tax laws of the State of Pennsylvania.

In the congressional elections of 1862, Thayer was the fifth electoral district of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of William Morris Davis on March 4, 1863. After a re-election he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1867 two legislative sessions. These were minted until 1865 by the events of the Civil War. Since 1865 the work of the Congress of the tensions between the Republicans and President Andrew Johnson was charged. During his time as a Congressman Thayer led the Committee on private land claims. In 1866 he gave up another candidacy.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, he practiced as a lawyer first again. From 1867 to 1874 he was district judge in Philadelphia, 1874-1896 appeal judges, also in Philadelphia. In 1873, he was also a member of the board of the Military Academy at West Point. He also dealt with literary matters. He died on 14 October 1906 in Philadelphia.