Thomas C. Catchings

Thomas C. Catchings, 1893

Thomas Clendinen Catchings (January 11, 1847 – December 24, 1927) was a U.S. Representative from Mississippi.

Biography

Born near Brownsville, Mississippi, Catchings was tutored at home. He attended the University of Mississippi at Oxford in 1859, where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall, and Oakland College in 1861.

He entered the Confederate States Army in 1861 and served as a private in Company A, Eighteenth Mississippi Infantry, and subsequently in Company C, Eleventh Mississippi Cavalry. He studied law.

He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and commenced practice in Vicksburg.

Catchings was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1875 but resigned in 1877.

Catchings was elected Mississippi Attorney General in 1877. He was reelected in 1881 and served until February 16, 1885.

Catchings was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1885–March 3, 1901). He served as chairman of the Committee on Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River (Fiftieth Congress), Committee on Railways and Canals (Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses), Committee on Rivers and Harbors (Fifty-third Congress). He resumed the practice of law. He also served as division counsel for the Southern Railway Co.. He served as member of the Mississippi Code Commission by appointment of Governor Vardaman. He died in Vicksburg, Mississippi, December 24, 1927. He was interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

References

• Thomas C. Catchings at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress