Thomas J. Strait Explained

Thomas Jefferson Strait
Image Name:File:Thomas_Jefferson_Strait.jpg
Birth Date:25 December 1846
Birth Place:Chester District, South Carolina
Death Place:Lancaster, South Carolina
State:South Carolina
District:5th
Term Start:March 4, 1893
Term End:March 3, 1899
Predecessor:John J. Hemphill
Successor:David E. Finley
Office2:Member of the South Carolina Senate
Term2:1890  - 1893
Party:Democrat
Spouse:Katherine Lathrop
Alma Mater:South Carolina Medical College
Occupation:physician
Rank: Sergeant
Unit: 6th South Carolina Infantry, 24th South Carolina Infantry
Serviceyears:1862  - 1865
Battles:American Civil War

Thomas Jefferson Strait (December 25, 1846 – April 18, 1924) was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina.

Biography

Born in Chester District, South Carolina, Strait attended the common schools of Mayesville, South Carolina, and Cooper Institute, Mississippi.During the Civil War entered the Confederate States Army in 1862 and served throughout the war, first in Company A, Sixth Regiment of Infantry, and later as sergeant in Company H, Twenty-fourth Regiment, Gist's brigade.He engaged in agricultural pursuits.He taught school in Ebenezer, South Carolina, in 1880.He was graduated from South Carolina Medical College at Charleston in 1885 and practiced medicine.He served as member of the State senate 1890-1893.

Strait was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1899).He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1898 to the Fifty-sixth Congress.He resumed the practice of his profession in Lancaster, South Carolina, and died there on April 18, 1924.He was interred in Westside Cemetery.