XCVIII.
XCVIII. THOMAS WALKER GILMER.
XCVIII. Governor.
XCVIII. March, 1840, to March, 1841.
Thomas Walker Gilmer, son of George Gilmer, was
born at "Gilmerton," his father's seat, in Albemarle County,
Virginia, April 6, 1802. The founder of the Gilmer family
in Virginia, Dr. George Gilmer, was a native of Scotland and
a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. Early in the 18th
century he migrated to America and settled in Williamsburg,
Virginia, where for fifty years he successfully combined the
professions of physician, surgeon, and druggist. He married
three times, each time into a family of high position, and died
leaving to his numerous descendants a truly honored name.
His great-grandson, Thomas Walker Gilmer, began life under
very favorable auspices, receiving an extensive education from
tutors and at private schools. Later he enjoyed the instruction
and training of two very intellectual uncles, and when
he began the study of law his progress was rapid and substantial.
Entering upon his chosen profession, he was for
a time allured to the growing West, tempted by the wider field
there offered to aspiring industry and talent. He remained for
a season in St. Louis, Missouri, where flattering prospects
spread before him, but, finding his presence missed at home,
he returned to the bosom of his family. In this step he was
influenced by a noble desire to aid those he loved best, by his
own personal exertions. He soon took a high position at
the bar in Charlottesville and in the adjacent counties, and
became at once prominent in the discussion of the legal and
political questions of the day.
During the canvass which resulted in the election of General
Andrew Jackson to his first term as President, Mr.
Gilmer was one of the editors of the "Virginia Advocate," a
newspaper published in Charlottesville and devoted to the
interests of General Jackson. He also contributed to other
newspapers and acquired a fine reputation as a writer. In
the spring of 1829 Mr. Gilmer was sent by the County of
Albemarle to the Virginia House of Delegates, and at the
expiration of his first term was returned by an increased
majority to this position. In 1831 Governor John Floyd
appointed him Commissioner of the State to prosecute the
Revolutionary claims of Virginia against the United States.
In the spring of 1832 Mr. Gilmer was again elected to the
House of Delegates, and re-elected thereto in 1833, 1835, and
1838. His time when not engaged in legislative duties was
spent in traveling through the United States and contributing
valuable papers to leading journals upon the various States
with which he thus became familiar. In 1838 he was
made Speaker of the House of Delegates, and was re-elected
to this body in 1839. On February 14, 1840, he was elected
Governor of Virginia, to take the executive chair on the following
31st of March.
Governor Gilmer entered upon his new duties with the
zeal natural to him. Being deeply interested in the material
development of Virginia, he made a careful personal inspection
of nearly all the important public works of the state.
This tour gave him the information necessary to an able
elucidation of the subject which he laid before the General
Assembly soon after. He had now to meet a complicated
and irritating question with Governor Seward, of New York,
relative to the surrender of some men (charged with slave-stealing
in Virginia) who were fugitives from justice. Governor
Gilmer demanded their unconditional surrender, deeming
the refusal to do so a palpable and dangerous violation of the
Constitution and laws of the United States. (See Resolutions
of General Assembly of Virginia. Adopted March 17, 1840.)
But New York did not respond to the demand, and the Legislature
of Virginia receding from its position failed to
sustain Governor Gilmer. Dissatisfied at this want of harmony
and proper co-operation, Governor Gilmer sent in his
resignation. Feeling ran high in the Legislature, and they
were unable to elect a successor, so the body adjourned,
leaving the office of Governor to be filled by the Senior Councillor
of State, as provided by law. Governor Gilmer was
thus succeeded, until the 31st of March following, by John
Mercer Patton.
Governor Gilmer now offered himself as a candidate for
Congress from the Albemarle district, and was elected by a
handsome majority, taking his seat in the Congress which
had been convened by the proclamation of President Harrison,
dated March 17th. Mr. Gilmer, in this new field of
activity, labored zealously for reform and retrenchment, and
was placed at the head of the important Standing Committee
of Ways and Means. In 1843 he was re-elected to Congress,
and on February 15th, 1844, was nominated by President
Tyler to be Secretary of the Navy. The nomination was
unanimously confirmed and Mr. Gilmer entered upon the
discharge of his duties with accustomed industry. But his
labors were soon terminated by his tragic end in the catastrophe
on the steamer Princeton, February 28, 1844. He
died in the forty-second year of his age, "stricken down on
the very harvest-field of his faithful labors, and with the
sheaves of gathered honors standing thick around him."
He had married Miss Ann E. Baker, of Staunton, and left to
mourn his loss four sons and two daughters.
A handsome portrait of Governor Gilmer is in the State
Library at Richmond, and a marble slab marks his grave at
"Mt. Air," Albemarle County, Virginia.
