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Thomas Henry (Pennsylvania politician)

American politician from Pennsylvania

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ7790585 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Henry (1779 – July 20, 1849) was an Anti-Masonic and Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Biography

Henry was born in County Down in the Kingdom of Ireland. He emigrated to the United States of America and settled in Beaver, Pennsylvania, in 1798. He was appointed justice of the peace by Governor Simon Snyder on December 24, 1808. He was elected county commissioner in 1810. He served as captain of a company that went from Beaver to help defend the northern frontier from a threatened British invasion in 1814. He was elected a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1815. He served as prothonotary and clerk of courts from 1816 to 1821, and was elected sheriff of the county in 1821. He was proprietor and editor of the Western Argus from 1821 to 1831. He served as county treasurer in 1828 and 1829.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Thomas Henry (Pennsylvania politician)” as american politician from Pennsylvania. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1779, 1849, 1798, 1808—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1779-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Thomas, Henry and Pennsylvania can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician from Pennsylvania. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7790585. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1779, 1849, 1798 and 1808.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thomas Henry (Pennsylvania politician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thomas Henry (Pennsylvania politician) primary sources, Thomas Henry (Pennsylvania politician) archive and Thomas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thomas Henry (Pennsylvania politician)”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Henry (Pennsylvania politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.