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m Brandonrush moved page Thomas Stevenson Drew to Thomas S. Drew over redirect: typical usage of his name
 
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{{Short description|3rd Governor of Arkansas}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox Governor
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Thomas Stevenson Drew
|name = Thomas Stevenson Drew
|image = Thomas Stevenson Drew - Gouverneur von Arkansas.jpg
|image = Thomas Stevenson Drew - Gouverneur von Arkansas.jpg
|order = 3rd
|order = 3rd
|office = Governor of Arkansas
|office = Governor of Arkansas
|term_start = November 5, 1844
|term_start = November 9, 1844
|term_end = January 10, 1849
|term_end = January 10, 1849
|lieutenant =
|predecessor = [[Samuel Adams (governor)|Samuel Adams]]
|predecessor = [[Samuel Adams (governor)|Samuel Adams]]
|successor = [[Richard C. Byrd]] <br><small>as Acting Governor</small>
|successor = [[Richard C. Byrd]]
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1802|8|25}}
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1802|8|25|mf=y}}
|birth_place = [[Wilson County, Tennessee]]
|birth_place = [[Wilson County, Tennessee]]
|death_date = January 1879 (aged 76)
|death_date = {{Death date and given age|1879|1||76|df=y<!-- "df=y" marker removes comma between "January" and "1879" -->}}
|death_place = [[Lipan, Texas]]
|death_place = [[Lipan, Texas]]
|party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]
|spouse = Cinderella Bettis
|spouse =
|relations = {{ubl|Brother [[Richard Maxwell Drew]]|Nephew [[Richard Cleveland Drew]]|Great-nephew [[Harmon Caldwell Drew]] }}
|profession =
|profession =
|nationality = American
|religion =
}}
}}

'''Thomas Stevenson Drew''' (August 25, 1802 &ndash; January 1879) was the [[List of Governors of Arkansas|third elected governor]] of the U.S. state of [[Arkansas]].
'''Thomas Stevenson Drew''' (August 25, 1802 &ndash; January 1879) was the [[List of Governors of Arkansas|third]] [[Governor of Arkansas|Governor]] of the [[U.S. state]] of [[Arkansas]].


==Biography==
==Biography==
Drew was born in [[Wilson County, Tennessee]], and moved with his family to north [[Louisiana]] and then to southern Arkansas in 1818. He worked as a traveling salesman and schoolteacher. Drew settled in [[Clark County, Arkansas|Clark County]] in southern Arkansas.
He was born in [[Wilson County, Tennessee]]. Drew moved with his family to [[Louisiana]] and then, in 1818, to Arkansas. He worked as a traveling salesman and school teacher. Drew first settled in [[Clark County, Arkansas|Clark County]] and was appointed Clark County Clerk in 1823. In 1827 he moved to [[Pocahontas, Arkansas]], and married Cinderella Bettis, daughter of the prosperous founder of that town, Ransom Bettis. His father-in-law gave the newlyweds {{convert|800|acre|km2}} of bottom land in Cherokee Bay, where the town of [[Biggers, Arkansas|Biggers]] lies in what is now [[Randolph County, Arkansas|Randolph County]] (then Lawrence County.) The Drews prospered, and their plantation included 20 African-American slaves.


⚫
In 1832, Drew was elected County Judge of Lawrence County. In 1835, Drew and Bettis convinced the Arkansas Territorial Legislature to create Randolph County out of Lawrence County. In 1836, Drew and Bettis held an infamous free bar-b-que complete with free liquor for the entire county in Pocahontas (then known as Bettis Bluff). The grateful attendees the next day chose Pocahontas as the county seat in an upset election over the more populated community of Columbia. That same year, Drew gave the county land in downtown Pocahontas where a courthouse was constructed.
In 1823, Drew was appointed Clark County Clerk. In 1827, he moved to [[Pocahontas, Arkansas|Pocohontas]], Arkansas, where he married Cinderella Bettis, daughter of the prosperous founder of that town, Ransom Bettis. His father-in-law gave the newlyweds {{convert|800|acre|km2}} of bottomland in Cherokee Bay near the town of Biggers in what is now [[Randolph County, Arkansas|Randolph County]], then [[Lawrence County, Arkansas|Lawrence County]]. The Drews prospered, having a [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] and twenty African American [[slave]]s.


⚫
In 1836 he was chosen as a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention. He was elected Governor in 1844 as a Democrat, supported by the [[James Sevier Conway|Conway]]-[[Ambrose Hundley Sevier|Sevier]] Faction that ruled Arkansas from territorial days to the 1850s. His administration concentrated on the state's financial solvency and attempted to repair the state's credit and party disunity. Other achievements of his first administration were Arkansas becoming the first southern state to declare Thanksgiving to be a state holiday, and, at Cinderella's urging, he had legislation passed so that Arkansas became the first southern state to declare the property a woman brought to a marriage to be her own and not her husband's.
⚫
In 1832, Drew was elected judge of Lawrence County. In 1835, Drew and Bettis convinced the Arkansas Territorial Legislature to create Randolph County from Lawrence County. In 1836, Drew and Bettis held an infamous free barbecue complete with free liquor for the entire county in Pocahontas (then known as Bettis Bluff). The next day, the grateful attendees chose Pocahontas as the county seat in an upset election over the more populated community of Columbia. That same year, Drew gave the county land in downtown Pocahontas where a courthouse was constructed.


Drew was reelected in 1848. In 1849 he dispatched a [[militia]] to [[Marion County, Arkansas|Marion County]] to put down the [[Tutt-Everett War]]. Drew only served a year of his second term before resigning due to the low salary provided for the governor. He retired from politics and worked to try and recover from financial losses. He was living in [[Sebastian County, Arkansas]], in 1860.<ref>1860 Arkansas Census</ref> but eventually moved to [[Texas]], initially to [[Weatherford, Texas|Weatherford]], and later to [[Hood County, Texas|Hood County]]. Drew died in January 1879 at [[Lipan, Texas]].
==Political career==
⚫
In 1836, Drew was chosen as a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention. He was elected Governor in 1844 as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]],<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_arkansas/col2-content/main-content-list/title_drew_thomas.html|title=Arkansas Governor Thomas Stevenson Drew|publisher=National Governors Association|accessdate=August 10, 2012}}</ref> having secured the backing of the Conway-Sevier faction that had ruled Arkansas since territorial days. His administration concentrated on the state's financial solvency and attempted to correct the state's bad credit as well as disunity within Democratic ranks. Under Drew, Arkansas became the first southern state to declare [[Thanksgiving Day]] as a state holiday. At his wife's urging, Drew secured passage of legislation protecting a woman's property which she brought into a marriage as her own separate entity, distinct from the husband's holdings.


⚫
Drew was originally buried in the Old Baptist Cemetery in Lipan, but his body was removed in 1923 by Arkansas officials and moved to the Masonic Cemetery in Pocahontas, where he rests today along with Bettis, Cinderella, and several of the Drew children.
Though Drew was the third person to be elected governor, he was the fourth in office because his predecessor, [[Samuel Adams (governor)|Samuel Adams]], had served as acting governor during much of 1844, having gained the office through the previous position as president of the [[Arkansas State Senate]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theus50.com/arkansas/governors.php|title=State of Arkansas Governor|publisher=theus50.com|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref>


[[Drew County, Arkansas]] was named for him.
Drew was re-elected governor in 1848. The next year, he dispatched a [[militia]] to [[Marion County, Arkansas|Marion County]] to suppress the [[Tutt-Everett War]]. Drew only served a year of his second term. He resigned in protest of the $1,500 annual salary, then provided for the governor, was inadequate. He retired from politics and concentrated on his own financial holdings.

In 1860, he was living in [[Sebastian County, Arkansas|Sebastian County]] near [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]] in western Arkansas.<ref>1860 Arkansas Census</ref> He moved to [[Weatherford, Texas|Weatherford]] west of [[Fort Worth, Texas]], and later moved to [[Hood County, Texas|Hood County]], Texas, where he died in the community of [[Lipan, Texas|Lipan]].

==Death and legacy==
⚫
Drew was originally buried in the Old [[Baptist]] Cemetery in Lipan. In 1923, his remains were exhumed and reburied at the Masonic Cemetery in Pocahontas, Arkansas, alongside the graves of Bettis, Cinderella, and several of the Drew children.

[[Image:AR Gov. Thomas S. Drew.jpg|right|thumb|Later photo of Governor Drew]]

One of Drew's brothers, [[Richard Maxwell Drew]], held several public offices in [[Claiborne Parish, Louisiana|Claiborne Parish]], Louisiana, including that of [[Louisiana State Legislature|state representative]] from 1848 until his death in 1850 at the age of twenty-eight.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2012|publisher=house.louisiana.gov|accessdate=June 5, 2011}}</ref> [[Richard Cleveland Drew]], R. M. Drew's son and hence a nephew of Thomas Drew, was a [[Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal|circuit court]] judge from [[Webster Parish, Louisiana|Webster Parish]], which was created in 1871 from neighboring Claiborne Parish.
[[Drew County, Arkansas|Drew County]] in southern Arkansas is named for Thomas S. Drew.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q&f=false | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=109}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Arkansas|Politics}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=100 Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture]
* Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture entry: [http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=100 Thomas Stevenson Drew]
* [http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_arkansas/col2-content/main-content-list/title_drew_thomas.html National Governors Association]
* {{Find a Grave|11788156}}


{{s-start}}
{{start box}}
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{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Archibald Yell]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[List of Governors of Arkansas|Governor of Arkansas]]|years=1844, 1848}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Selden Roane]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|title=[[List of Governors of Arkansas|Governor of Arkansas]]|years=1844-1849|before=[[Samuel Adams (governor)|Samuel Adams]]|after=[[Richard C. Byrd]]}}
{{succession box
{{end box}}
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|title=[[List of Governors of Arkansas|Governor of Arkansas]]

| years = 1844–1849
| before = [[Samuel Adams (governor)|Samuel Adams]]
| after = [[Richard C. Byrd]] <br> Acting Governor
}}
⚫
{{s-end}}
{{Governors of Arkansas}}
{{Governors of Arkansas}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, Thomas Stevenson}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, Thomas Stevenson}}
[[Category:Governors of Arkansas]]
[[Category:Democratic Party governors of Arkansas]]
[[Category:Arkansas Democrats]]
[[Category:People from Wilson County, Tennessee]]
⚫
[[Category:People from Randolph County, Arkansas]]
[[Category:1802 births]]
[[Category:1802 births]]
[[Category:1879 deaths]]
[[Category:1879 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Wilson County, Tennessee]]
⚫
[[Category:People from Randolph County, Arkansas]]
[[Category:People from Clark County, Arkansas]]
[[Category:People from Sebastian County, Arkansas]]
[[Category:People from Weatherford, Texas]]
[[Category:People from Hood County, Texas]]
[[Category:American planters]]
[[Category:American businesspeople]]
[[Category:American schoolteachers]]
[[Category:Democratic Party state governors of the United States]]
[[Category:19th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]

Latest revision as of 22:56, 6 July 2023

Thomas Stevenson Drew
3rd Governor of Arkansas
In office
November 9, 1844 – January 10, 1849
Preceded bySamuel Adams
Succeeded byRichard C. Byrd
Personal details
Born(1802-08-25)August 25, 1802
Wilson County, Tennessee
DiedJanuary 1879 (aged 76)
Lipan, Texas
Political partyDemocratic

Thomas Stevenson Drew (August 25, 1802 – January 1879) was the third Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas.

Biography

[edit]

He was born in Wilson County, Tennessee. Drew moved with his family to Louisiana and then, in 1818, to Arkansas. He worked as a traveling salesman and school teacher. Drew first settled in Clark County and was appointed Clark County Clerk in 1823. In 1827 he moved to Pocahontas, Arkansas, and married Cinderella Bettis, daughter of the prosperous founder of that town, Ransom Bettis. His father-in-law gave the newlyweds 800 acres (3.2 km2) of bottom land in Cherokee Bay, where the town of Biggers lies in what is now Randolph County (then Lawrence County.) The Drews prospered, and their plantation included 20 African-American slaves.

In 1832, Drew was elected County Judge of Lawrence County. In 1835, Drew and Bettis convinced the Arkansas Territorial Legislature to create Randolph County out of Lawrence County. In 1836, Drew and Bettis held an infamous free bar-b-que complete with free liquor for the entire county in Pocahontas (then known as Bettis Bluff). The grateful attendees the next day chose Pocahontas as the county seat in an upset election over the more populated community of Columbia. That same year, Drew gave the county land in downtown Pocahontas where a courthouse was constructed.

In 1836 he was chosen as a delegate to the Arkansas Constitutional Convention. He was elected Governor in 1844 as a Democrat, supported by the Conway-Sevier Faction that ruled Arkansas from territorial days to the 1850s. His administration concentrated on the state's financial solvency and attempted to repair the state's credit and party disunity. Other achievements of his first administration were Arkansas becoming the first southern state to declare Thanksgiving to be a state holiday, and, at Cinderella's urging, he had legislation passed so that Arkansas became the first southern state to declare the property a woman brought to a marriage to be her own and not her husband's.

Drew was reelected in 1848. In 1849 he dispatched a militia to Marion County to put down the Tutt-Everett War. Drew only served a year of his second term before resigning due to the low salary provided for the governor. He retired from politics and worked to try and recover from financial losses. He was living in Sebastian County, Arkansas, in 1860.[1] but eventually moved to Texas, initially to Weatherford, and later to Hood County. Drew died in January 1879 at Lipan, Texas.

Drew was originally buried in the Old Baptist Cemetery in Lipan, but his body was removed in 1923 by Arkansas officials and moved to the Masonic Cemetery in Pocahontas, where he rests today along with Bettis, Cinderella, and several of the Drew children.

Drew County, Arkansas was named for him.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ 1860 Arkansas Census
[edit]
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for Governor of Arkansas
1844, 1848 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Governor of Arkansas
1844-1849 		Succeeded by
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