Thomas Andrews Hendricks (1819 - 1885)

Born 7 Sep 1819 in Zanesville, Muskingum, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Died 25 Nov 1885 at age 66 in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana, United States

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Preceded by
Chester A. Arthur

21st Vice President of the United States
1885

Succeeded by
Levi P. Morton

Preceded by
Conrad Baker

16th Governor of Indiana
1873 - 1877

Succeeded by
James D. Williams

Preceded by
David Turpie

Senator (Class 1) from Indiana
1863 - 1869

Succeeded by
Daniel D. Pratt

Summary

Thomas Hendricks is a member of Clan Gunn.

Thomas Hendricks is Notable.

Thomas Andrews Hendricks (September 7, 1819 – November 25, 1885) was an American politician who served as a Representative and a Senator from Indiana, the 16th Governor of Indiana (1873–1877), and the 21st Vice President of the United States (1885). The first Democratic governor to be elected in the Northern United States following the American Civil War, and having defended the Democratic position in the Senate during the war, Hendricks quickly grew in popularity among the national party. After two previous failed attempts to win election to the governor's office, his term was marked by the Panic of 1873, which consumed most of his energies. He was opposed by a strong Republican majority in the Indiana General Assembly, and was unable to enact any significant legislation. Hendricks was the unsuccessful candidate for Vice President on the Democratic ticket with Samuel Tilden in the controversial presidential election of 1876. Despite his poor health, he accepted his party's second nomination to run for Vice President in the election of 1884 as Grover Cleveland's running mate, and served in that office until his death only eight months later.

Biography

21st Vice-President of the United States of America

Thomas Andrews Hendricks was the descendant of one of Western Pennsylvania's earliest Pioneer families. The Patriarch of this extended family was Daniel Henry Hendrick who immigrated from England before 1635 and settled in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Daniel had seven children with wife, Dorothy Pike and three children with wife Mary Hatch, widow of John Stockbridge. Thomas is of the line from Jabez Hendrick. His mother was Dorothy (Pike) Hendrick. The family knows for certain that the original ancestor that moved to Ligonier Valley, Fairfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania was Daniel Hendrick(s) Sr.

Little is known about Daniel. Finding which son of Jabez Hendrick has been an exercise in logical determination, as all the records for Elizabethtown, New Jersey were destroyed during the Revolutionary War. We know that he was one of the early pioneers of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Daniel, Sr.'s oldest son, Abraham, stayed in the Ligonier Valley area of Westmoreland County for most of his adult life. He married Ann Jamison, the daughter of devout Scot Presbyterians. Ann was the daughter of Thomas Jamison (alternately spelled Jameson and Jamieson by scribes and clerks) who had settled in the same area of Fairfield Township. Abraham was a Lieutenant with the Westmoreland Rangers during the Revolutionary War. He remained with the Rangers achieving the rank of Colonel and ultimately Justice of the Peace. Since there are so many Abrahams in the Hendrick line, he is simply referred to as Col. Abraham Hendricks. He sired nine children: Thomas, Daniel, Rachel, Gov. William, Abraham, Jamison, Mary, John and Ann.

Many of the earlier researchers assumed that Col. Abraham was of Flemish or Swedish descent; however, the Flemish Hendricks family (originally Hendrick) stayed mostly in the tide-water area of Virginia and the Carolinas. The Swedish Hendricks stayed mostly in northeast Pennsylvania and were not known to be of the Buckskin Pioneer following. The major confusion has been the blurring of the lines from the Hendricks Dutch Heritage of Albertus Hendrickson of Chester County, Pennsylvania and the British Isle Hendrick line that went from Haverhill, Massachusetts to New Jersey to the wilderness of Westmoreland County; which at that time was part of Virginia, was that both families were settling in close proximity of each other.

There have been many mistakes made in the past as to which Hendricks/Hendrix/Hendrixxon/Hendrickson family that Daniel and subsequently Col. Abraham were descended. That was cleared up by two major disoveries. Scott Hammon Hendricks established the line to Thomas Andrews Hendricks as first cousin of his great-grandfather, William Chalmers Hendricks. It was known that William Chalmers was the grandson of Col. Abraham Hendricks and Ann Jamison. William kept all his writings and correspondence of which there were numerous letters to and from Thomas Andrews Hendricks to William Chalmers Hendricks. During the 1800’s it was commonplace and the accepted standard to address all letters formally using the first initials of the first and middle names and the full last name; even if the letter was between family members. The letters from T.A. were usually addressed dear W.C. and signed truly, T.A. Hendricks. There was a couple of letters that T.A. addressed Dear Cousin W.C. This was clearly a close family relationship to break the bonds of formality in letters. Secondly, Scott submitted to having his Y-DNA tested. The results were clearly to the line of Daniel Henry Hendrick of Haverhill, Massachusetts. This caused a lot of rewriting of family histories for a lot of the Hendricks Family researchers; as many had their lines from other families linked to Thomas Andrews Hendricks and even the family of Col. Abraham believed they were part of the Frontier Hendricks (the line of Albertus Hendrickson).

With the death of Col. Abraham, nearly all of his children moved west with young children. Others followed when the Hendricks Clan settled along the Ohio River in southern Indiana. Thomas Andrews Hendricks was born in Zanesville, Ohio 7 Sep 1819, to Col. Abraham's son, John. Shortly after the birth of his son William Chalmers, Abraham, Jr. migrated west to meet up with his brother. The two children, Thomas Andrews and William Chalmers, became not only first cousins but also best of friends. In young adulthood, William Chalmers, a trained surveyor, got the Hendricks wanderlust and headed to California in 1849, while Thomas Andrews stayed in Indiana to follow in the footsteps of his Uncle William, first Governor of Indiana. As a young man, Thomas Andrews studied and became a lawyer; however, his passion for politics became his career.

Thomas' career as a politician in Indiana started before it became a State. He married Eliza Morgan 25 Sep 1845. They had one child, Morgan, three years later, who died before reaching adulthood. Thomas was a very popular political figure in Indiana. He was a congressional representative and then Senator for the young State. His political career spanned through the Civil War and ended with his death 25 Nov 1885, the same year he was inaugurated 21st Vice President of the United States of America. His influence on presidential politics started in earnest in 1868, at the first Democratic convention he was nominated for the presidency. He ran unsuccessfully as Samuel Tilden's running mate in the scandal-ridden election of 1868.

The Democrats arrived in Chicago, Illinois on July 8, 1884, shortly after the Republicans nominated James G. Blaine. One of the most prominent presences was that of the legions of Tammany Hall, some 600 strong, led by Boss John Kelly. It was no secret that he brought his army with the intent to stop the nomination of his long-time political foe, Grover Cleveland. Kelly stated that he would be damned if the party was going to nominate a man who openly scorned the traditional spoils system and was unreservedly dedicated to reform politics at every level. Most of the Tammany hordes were not delegates to the convention, but minions come to sow seeds of discontent and discord. The convention chairman, Manning, arranged to have Cleveland supporters occupy the prestigious front row of seats. He also packed the gallery with anti-Tammany people.

Grover Cleveland stayed above the fray about to happen by not attending the convention, as was customary. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first Democratic nominee to accept his party's nomination in person. In Cleveland's case, he was still a political unknown to party regulars outside of the influence of Albany New York; a word portrait written by a sympathetic paper was given credence by the convention generals. John Kelly and his followers tried to delay the nominating process of the convention with the hopes of eroding Cleveland's strength. They went so far as to try to get New York released from the instructions imposed upon the delegation by the State convention in Syracuse. This motion was soundly defeated. With that out of the way, Cleveland's friend, Dan Lockwood, put Cleveland's name in nomination. Wisconsin's political general, Edward Stuyvesant Bragg, seconded the nomination and gave the party its rallying cry "They love Cleveland for his character, but they love him also for the enemies he made."

The first ballot left Cleveland short of the two-thirds majority 547 votes he needed for nomination. He amassed 392 votes, the rest going to Bayard of Delaware, Allen Thurman, former House Speaker Samuel Randall of Pennsylvania, Indiana Congressman Joseph E McDonald, and a smattering of favorite sons. Late the night of the first ballot, John Kelly covertly organized a stampede for his friend, Governor Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana. He conspired with the Sergeant-at-Arms to pack the gallery of the next mornings session with men pledged to cry "Hendricks for President" and then have the popular Hoosier appear on the convention floor. Thomas, during his congressional terms in both houses of Congress, was a constant critic of every previous major policy and had been nominated for President at every convention since 1868, except that of 1872. In addition, Thomas was an advocate for machine politics.

Chairman Manning learned of the conspiracy and sent his lieutenants to warn every anti-Tammany delegate at the convention. When Thomas walked onto the convention floor, the galleries exploded with shouts and applause; the main convention floor remained quiet. Thus, "The Hendricks Boom" went bust and the influence of Boss Kelly and the Tammany minions waned.

On the second ballot, Cleveland still failed to attain the required two-thirds majority vote, even after Randall and McDonald withdrew. McDonald, being from Indiana, swung his support to Thomas A. Over the vocal disapproval of the Tammany Delegates; all of New York's 72 votes were cast for Cleveland. Though his vote was short, Cleveland was formidable and nearly all of the delegates tripped over each other to switch their vote after the roll call was ended and before the official announcement of the second ballot was made official. The revised vote total gave Cleveland 683 votes, 136 more than was needed. Part of Gov. Bragg's famous line "We love him for the enemies he has made" became the party's slogan for the election of 1884. The ever popular, Thomas A. Hendricks was nominated for Vice President by acclamation.

The main issue of the 1884 National Election was that of integrity and Blaine failed miserably in that department. Hurt by the defeat at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Boss John Kelly threw his support behind Ben Butler and the Greenback Party. He supported The New York Sun's editorial stance, which demanded that Cleveland drop out of the race. Thomas A. Hendricks brought Kelly back into the fold. Thomas, a personal friend of Boss Kelly, convinced him of the political facts of life as it concerned national politics.

Upon his election as Vice-President of the United States, Thomas was asked to provide an autobiography for the Congressional Record. The information provided was starkly deplete of any generations prior to his father. He stated that his father was of unknown origins. Therefore, the conversion to his wife's Presbyterian beliefs left Grandpa Abraham strikingly absent from Thomas' life and ancestry. This absence of previous history led many researchers astray, and left family descendants with the daunting task of, not only making the family connections, but also documenting them. On a visit to Indiana, ten months after his inauguration, Thomas died of unknown causes. Family stories recount it as hard living. If his cousin, William Chalmers is any measure, he was accustomed to excessive use of spirits. Nevertheless, Thomas Andrews Hendricks remains an icon of Indiana politics.

The above was compiled and written by Scott Hammon Hendricks, 3rd cousin 3 times removed.

Sources

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/thomas_hendricks.pdf

The City of Hendricks, Lincoln County, Minnesota and Lake Hendricks, which sits on the border of Minnesota and South Dakota were named after Thomas Andrews Hendricks the source is the city records for the City of Hendricks, Lincoln County, Minnesota.

Find A Grave Memorial# 2111

For more information about TA Hendricks type in Thomas Andrews Hendricks in a Google Search

Footnotes

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

1. W.U. Hensel, "A Biographical Sketch of Thomas A. Hendricks," in William Dorsheimer, Life and Public Services of Hon. Grover Cleveland (New York, 1884), pp. 184 - 95; John W. Holcombe and Hubert M. Skinner, Life and Public Services of Thomas A. Hendricks with Selected Speeches and Writings (Indianapolis, 1886), p. 93.

2. Hensel, pp. 210 - 12; Holcombe and Skinner, pp. 117 - 18; Ralph D. Gray, Thomas A. Hendricks: Spokesman for the Democracy," in Gentlemen from Indiana: National Party Candidates, 1836 - 1940, ed. Ralph D. Gray (Indianapolis, 1977), p. 126.

3. Gray, p. 128.

4. Holcombe and Skinner, pp. 195, 245.

5. Christopher Dell, Lincoln and the War Democrats: The Grand Erosion of Conservative Tradition (Rutherford, NJ, 1975), p. 201.

6. U.S. Congress, Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of Thomas A. Hendricks (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1886), pp. 26, 38 - 39; Hensel, p. 225.

7. Holcombe and Skinner, p. 267; Hensel, p. 226; Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, Reprinted from Mark O. Hatfield, with the Senate Historical Office, Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789 - 1993 (Washington: U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1997). www.senate.gov 1863 – 1877 (New York, 1988), pp. 278 - 79.

8. Horace Samuel Merrill, Bourbon Democracy of the Middle West, 1865 – 1896 (Seattle, 1967; reprint of 1953 edition), p. 71.

9. The best a ccount of the disputed election is Keith Ian Polakoff, The Politics of Inertia: The Election of 1876 and the End of Reconstruction (Baton Rouge, LA, 1976). See also Chapter 19 of this volume, "William Almon Wheeler," pp. 7 - 8.

10. Hensel, pp. 279, 284; Ben: Perley Poore, Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis (Philadelphia, 1887), 2:503 - 4.

11. Herbert Eaton, Presidential Timber: A History of Nominating Conventions, 1868 – 1960 (New York, 1964), pp. 102 - 7; Allan Nevins, Grover Cleveland, A Study in Courage (New York, 1932), pp. 146 - 47; Memorial Addresses, p. 25.

12. Nevins, p. 154; Memorial Addresses , p. 29.

13. Eaton, p. 111; Nevins, p. 154; Poore, p. 284; Richard E. Welch, Jr., The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland (Lawrence, KS, 1988), pp. 28 - 29.

14. Nevins, p. 177; Hensel, p. 255; Holcombe and Skinner, pp. 7, 363 - 64.

15. Vincent P. De Santis, "Grover Cleveland: Revitalization of the Presidency," in Six Presidents from the Empire State, ed. Harry J. Sievers (Tarrytown, NY, 1974), pp. 90 - 91.

16. John A. Garraty, The New Commonwealth, 1877 – 1890 (New York, 1968), pp. 288 - 90; Horace Samuel Merrill, Bourbon Leader: Grover Cleveland and the Democratic Party (Boston, 1957), p. 99. See also Chapter 23 of this volume, "Adlai Ewing Stevenson," pp. 3 - 5.

17. Nevins, pp. 237, 247; Memorial Addresses, p. 63.

18. Chester L. Barrows, William M. Evarts: Lawyer, Diplomat, Statesman (Chapel Hill, NC, 1941), p. 446; Richard E. Welch, Jr., George Frisbie Hoar and the Half - Breed Republicans (Cambridge, MA, 1971), p. 137; John D. Feerick, From Failing Hands: The Story of Presidential Succession (New York, 1965), pp. 140 - 46. 19. Poore, 2:503 - 4