Thomas Edward WATSON, Congress, GA (1856-1922)

WATSON, Thomas Edward, a Representative and a Senator from Georgia; born in Columbia County, near Thomson, Ga., September 5, 1856; attended the common schools and Mercer University, Macon, Ga.; taught school; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1875 and commenced practice in Thomson, McDuffie County, Ga., in 1876; also engaged in agricultural pursuits; member, State house of representatives 1882-1883; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1888; elected as a Populist to the Fifty-second Congress (March 4, 1891-March 3, 1893); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1892 to the Fifty-third Congress and in 1894 for election to the Fifty-fourth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Thomson, Ga.; nominated for Vice President by the Populist National Convention in 1896 and for President by the People’s Party in 1904; published a magazine for many years and later engaged in the newspaper business; author; unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1918; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1921, until his death in Washington, D.C., September 26, 1922; interment in Thomson Cemetery, Thomson, Ga.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Crowe, Charles. “Tom Watson, Populists, and Blacks Reconsidered.” Journal of Negro History 55 (April 1970): 99-116; Woodward, C. Vann. Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel. 1938. 2d ed. Savannah, GA: Beehive Press, 1973.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present