Thomas Clarke Theaker was a U. S. Congressman

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 and commissioner of the United States Patent Office.

Theaker was a native of York, Pennsylvania

York, Pennsylvania

York, known as the White Rose City , is a city located in York County, Pennsylvania, United States which is in the South Central region of the state. The population within the city limits was 43,718 at the 2010 census, which was a 7.0% increase from the 2000 count of 40,862...

, but moved to Bridgeport, Ohio

Bridgeport, Ohio

Bridgeport is a village in Belmont County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,831 at the 2010 census...

, in 1830, where he became a wheelwright

Wheelwright

A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker...

 and machinist. Elected as a Republican to represent the Seventeenth Congressional District of Ohio to the Thirty-Sixth Congress. He failed to win re-election in 1860, but was appointed to a seat on the U.S. Patent Office's Board of Appeals. On August 15, 1865, he was appointed commissioner of the Patent Office, a post he held until his resignation in January 1868.

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