Thomas Chipman (bio) MCRAE (FAMOUS)

21 December 1851 – 02 June 1928

Arkansas House of Representatives
1877 – 1879

United States Congressman
December 7, 1885 – March 3, 1903

Governor of Arkansas
1921 – 1925

Hon. Thomas Chipman McRae, who political career has extenede over a period almost half a century and who has long been recognized as one of the didtinguished statesmen of Arkansas, is now serving as the twenty-sixth governor of the commonwealth, having been elected in November, 1920. His birth occurred at Mount Holly, Union county, Arkansas, on the 21st of December, 1851, his parents being Duncan L. and Mary Ann (Chipman) McRae, who were natives of North Carolina and Georgia, respectively. In the paternal line the family comes of Scotch ancestry. Duncan L. McRae took up his abode among the pioneer settlers of this state, here becoming a successful planter and a citizen of prominence and influence who efforts contributed in no inconsiderable degree to the work of general improvement and progress. He died July 30, 1863, while his wife, surviving him for a third of a century, was called to her final rest on the 19th of April, 1897. Both were residents of Columbia county, Arkansas, at the time of their demise. Two sons of the family still survive. Thomas C. McRae largely acquired his early education in private schools of Shady Grove, Mount Holly and Falcon, Arkansas, and subsequently spent one year as clerk in a general store at Shreveport, Louisiana. He next removed to New Orleans, where he completed a course in the Soule Business College by graduation with thw class of 1869, after which he was employed in a store at Falcon, Arkansas, for a year. Having determined upon a professional career, he then entered the law department of the Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, in 1871, this institution conferring upon him the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1872. In January, 1873, at Rosston, which was then the county seat of Nevada county, Arkansas, he was admitted to the bar and there commenced his work as a representative of the legal fraternity. In January, 1886, he was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the state and in January, 1886, to the supreme court of the United States. In 1917 he was elected president of the Arkansas Bar Association. The county seat of Nevada county was changed from Rosston to Prescott in 1877 and in July of the same year Mr. McRae established his home in the latter place, where he won notable distinction in the practice of law. His political career began in 1874, when he was appointed election supervisor for Nevada county. In 1876 he was elected to represent that county in the lower house of the state legislature, while three years later he became a member of the city council of Prescott, of which he was likewise chosen recorder and city attorney in 1879. He has always remained a staunch supporter of democratic principles and has long been one of the leaders of the party in Arkansas. In 1880 he was made presidential elector on the democratic ticket and in 1884 he served as chairman of the democratic state central committee of Arkansas, while in the latter year he was also sent as a delegate to the democratic national convention. From 1896 until 1900 he was the democratic national committeeman from Arkansas. During the period between 1890 and 1893 he acted as school director and for several terms was special judge of the district composed of Lafayette and Pike counties. At a special election in 1885 he was elected representative of the third congressional district of Arkansas in the United States congress. By successive reelections he remained in the national halls of legislation for eighteen consecutive years or until he voluntarily retired in 1903 - a record that has not been equaled by that of any other congressman from this state. Popular appreciation of his services has thus shown in an unequivocal way, and as a diligent, conscientious and able member of the United States congress his record became an integral part of the history of that body during the long period of his active and effective service therein. He was appointed a member of the state board of charities in April, 1909, and was elected as a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1917. The highest honor within the gift of the state was conferred upon him when he was elected governor in November, 1920, and is now ably guiding the destinies of the commonwealth. He is now a candidate for reelection. While engaged in law practice at Prescott, Mr. McRae also became identified with varied and extensive business interests there and he is still the president of the Bank of Prescott. In 1909 he was honored with the presidency of the Arkansas Bakers' Association. On the 17th of December, 1874, Mr. McRae was united in marriage to Miss Amelia Ann White, daughter of Captain William R. and Mary Jane (Clarke) White, of Rosston, Arkansas. Her father, one of the honored citizens of Nevada county, was at that time serving as county clerk. Mr. and Mrs. McRae became the parents of nine children, six daughters and three sons: Ethel, who is the widow of Horace Bemis, of Prescott, Arkansas; Herbert, who died at the age of five years; Mary, who is the widow of Dr. F. H. Montgomery and resides in Prescott, Arkansas; Alice, twin sister of Mary, who died in infancy; Corrie, who died at the age of seventeen years; Thomas C., Jr., who is cashier of the Bank of Prescott at Prescott, Arkansas; Norvelle, who died at the age of eleven years; Duncan L., an attorney practicing as a member of the firm of Tompkins, McRae & Tompkins; and Mildred, the wife of John D. Barlow of Hope, Arkansas. Fraternally Governor McRae is well known as representative of the Masonic order, in which he has attained the Knights Templar degree of the York Rite and the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is likewise identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder and to which his wife also belongs. Not seeking honor but simply endeavoring to do his duty, honors have yet been multiplied to him and prosperity has followed all his undertakings. No man in public life perhaps has had so few enemies. Even those opposed to him politically entertain for him the warmest personal regard and admiration. His life finds embodiment in the words of Pope: "Statesman, yet friend to truth, of soul sincere, in action faithful and in honor clear; who broke no promise, served no private end, who gained no title and who lost no friend." (Centennial History of Arkansas - S. J. Clarke Publishing Company - 1922)

Contributed on 10/27/08 by tomtodd
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