Biography

02/12/1810 - 11/09/1884

BIGHAM, Thomas James, a Representative from Allegheny County; born in Hannastown, Westmorland County, Pa., February 12, 1810; graduated, Jefferson College, 1834; teacher (1835); lawyer (1837-1884); founder, Pittsburgh Commercial; proprietor, Commercial Journal; elected as a Whig to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1845, 1846, 1847, 1851 and 1854 terms; elected, board of managers, Pennsylvania Reform School (1851); reelected to the House as a Republican for the 1862 term; reelected to the House as a Republican to the 1864 term; not a candidate for reelection to the House for the 1865 term; elected, Pennsylvania State Senate (1865-1868); gubernatorial appointee, Commissioner of Statistics of Pennsylvania (1873-1875); elected, council, Pittsburgh (1878-1882); founder, Grace Protestant Episcopal Church of Mount Washington; died, November 9, 1884 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; interred, Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.