succeeded death_date death_place birth_place jr/sr party profession preceded term birth_date article_title state name
lewis cass 25 march 1855 niles , michigan germantown , new york united states senator democrat politician keeper , lawyer , judge , teacher , lighthouse lewis cass june , 1849 8 , 1848 & ndash ; march 4 10 april 1796 thomas fitzgerald -lrb- american politician -rrb-
 michigan thomas fitzgerald
thomas fitzgerald -lrb- american politician -rrb-

thomas fitzgerald -lrb- april 10 , 1796march 25 , 1855 -rrb- was an american politician who served as a judge and state legislator in both indiana and michigan , and as a united states senator from michigan .
fitzgerald was born in germantown , in herkimer county , new york .
his father was an irish immigrant , and fought with the continental army , was wounded and received a pension .
thomas received a common school education and fought with the u.s. army the war of 1812 .
he was severely wounded and afterwards taught school for a time in marcellus , new york .
in 1819 he moved to boonville , indiana , where he taught school and studied law .
he was admitted to the bar in 1821 and began a practice in boonville .
he was a member of the state house of representatives in 1821 and from 1825 to 1827 .
he was a probate judge in indiana in 1829 .
in 1832 , fitzgerald was appointed keeper of the lighthouse at the mouth of the st. joseph river and moved to st. joseph , michigan .
he was clerk of berrien county in 1834 and a regent of the university of michigan in 1837 .
he was appointed bank commissioner in 1838 to investigate what were called `` wildcat '' banks and was served in the state house of representatives in 1839 .
he ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1839 and was appointed as a democrat to the u.s. senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of lewis cass , serving in the 30th congress from june 8 , 1848 until march 4 , 1849 .
he moved to niles , michigan in 1851 and served as probate judge of berrien county from 1852 to 1855 .
he died in niles and is interred in silverbrook cemetery .
