- Thomas Sterling
Thomas Sterling was an American
politician . A Republican, he served in theUnited States Senate from 1913 to 1925.Early life
Sterling, (brother of John Allen Sterling), was born near
Amanda, Ohio onFebruary 21 ,1851 . He moved with his parents toMcLean County, Illinois in 1854, where he attended the public schools and graduated fromIllinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington in 1875. He was superintendent of schools ofBement, Illinois from 1875 to 1877.Legal career
Sterling studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1878, commencing his practice in
Springfield, Illinois . He became the city prosecuting attorney in 1880 until 1881. In 1882 he moved to theTerritory of Dakota and located in Northville, in then Dakota Territory. He moved to Redfield in 1886 and continued the practice of law, serving asdistrict attorney ofSpink County, South Dakota from 1886 to 1888.Political career
In 1889 he became a member of the State constitutional convention, and a year later in 1890 a member of the State senate. From 1901 to 1911 he was the dean of the college of law of the
University of South Dakota at Vermillion. He was elected in 1913 as a Republican to the United States Senate, was reelected in 1918, and served fromMarch 4 ,1913 , toMarch 3 ,1925 . He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1924. During the Sixty-sixth Congress he was the chairman of theCommittee on Civil Service and Retrenchment . In the Sixty-seventh Congress he served on theCommittee on Civil Service , and on theCommittee on Post Office and Post Roads during the Sixty-eighth Congress. He practiced law inWashington, D.C. , and served on the faculty ofNational University Law School . He was appointed by PresidentCalvin Coolidge in 1925 as field secretary of theCommission for the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of George Washington . Sterling died in Washington, D.C. onAugust 26 ,1930 and was interred inCedar Hill Cemetery .References
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