A Slice in Third Party Vice-Presidential Time: 1843-1844
Here's some fun historical trivia. Between the dates of the birth of Charles Horatio Matchett (May 15, 1843) to the death of Thomas Morris (Dec. 7, 1844) there were 42 Third Party Vice-Presidential Candidates living between the Earth and the sky. By December 1844 only five of these individuals had already served as VP nominees.
Here's mosaic of this unique group and where they were between May 15, 1843-Dec. 7, 1844--
Henry Lee (February 4, 1782 – February 6, 1867)
VP candidate for Nullifier Party 1832
Retired as a Boston merchant in 1840.
Amos Ellmaker (February 2, 1787 - November 28, 1851)
VP candidate for Anti-Masonic Party 1832
Retired from politics and practiced law in Lancaster, Penn.
Thomas Earle (April 21, 1796 – July 14, 1849)
VP candidate for Liberty Party 1840
An active member of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.
Thomas Morris (January 3, 1776 – December 7, 1844)
VP candidate for Liberty Party 1844
Died a month after the 1844 election, where he campaigned as the Liberty Party VP.
Sidney Rigdon (February 19, 1793 – July 14, 1876)
VP candidate for Reform Party 1844
Was excommunicated by his Mormon colleagues after the death of Joseph Smith in 1844 and then started his own sect in Pennsylvania.
Charles Francis Adams Sr. (August 18, 1807 – November 21, 1886)
VP candidate for Free Soil Party 1848
Was a member of the Massachusetts State Senate as a Whig.
Charles C. Foote (March 30, 1811 – May 3, 1891)
VP candidate for National Liberty Party 1848
Working as a Presbyterian minister.
George Washington Julian (May 5, 1817 – July 7, 1899)
VP candidate for Free Soil Party 1852
Attorney in Centreville, Ind.
Charles Jones Jenkins (January 6, 1805 – June 14, 1883)
VP candidate for Union Party 1852
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives as a Whig. Served as Speaker in 1843.
Reynell Coates (December 10, 1802 – April 27, 1886)
VP candidate for Native American Party (aka American Party) 1852
He was the author of the national address of the Native American Party in 1844, the same year he went bankrupt.
John Anthony Quitman (September 1, 1798 (or 1799) – July 17, 1858)
VP candidate for Southern Rights Party 1852
Judge, grand master of the Mississippi Masons.
Samuel M. Bell
VP candidate for Liberty Party 1852
The mysterious Mr. Bell was involved in abolition activities in what is now West Virginia.
Andrew Jackson Donelson (August 25, 1799 – June 26, 1871)
VP candidate for American (Know-Nothing) Party 1856
Worked for the election of James K. Polk. Appointed United States Chargé d'Affaires to Texas by President Tyler Nov.1844
Joseph Lane (December 14, 1801 – April 19, 1881)
VP candidate for Constitutional Democratic Party 1860
Elected to the Indiana State Senate in 1844.
Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865)
VP candidate for Constitutional Union Party 1860
United States Minister to the United Kingdom
Samuel McFarland (1795 - February 17, 1868)
VP candidate for Radical Abolitionists Party (aka Liberty Party) 1860
Sheep farmer near Washington, Penn. Ran and lost and election for the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 1843 as a menber of the Liberty Party.
Frederick Douglass (ca. February 1818 – February 20, 1895)
VP candidate for Equal Rights Party (aka People's Party aka Cosmo-Political Party aka National Radical Reformers) (1872)
During an anti-slavery speaking tour in 1843, Douglass was attacked by a mob in Pendleton, Ind., and they broke his hand which never properly healed.
John Quincy Adams II (September 22, 1833 – August 14, 1894)
VP candidate for Straight-Out Democratic Party (1872)
He was a boy in Massachusetts.
Benjamin Gratz Brown (May 28, 1826 – December 13, 1885)
VP candidate for Liberal Republican Party and Democratic Party (1872)
Student at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.
John Russell (September 20, 1822 - November 4, 1912)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1872)
Ordinated as a Methodist minister in Michigan
Samuel Fenton Cary (February 18, 1814 – September 29, 1900)
VP candidate for Greenback Party 1876
Attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Donald Kirkpatrick (September 9, 1830 - September 19, 1889)
VP candidate for American National Party (aka Anti-Masonic Party aka Anti-Secret Society Party) (1876)
Teenager in Syracuse, NY.
Gideon Tabor Stewart (August 7, 1824 - June 10, 1909)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1876)
Studied law while working in the law office of N.H. Swayne in Columbus, Ohio.
Barzillai Jefferson Chambers (December 5, 1817 – September 16, 1895)
VP candidate for Greenback Party 1880
Surveyor in Texas.
Samuel Clarke Pomeroy (January 3, 1816 – August 27, 1891)
VP candidate for Anti-Masonic Party (aka American Party aka Anti-Secret Society Party aka National American Party) (1880)
Living in Southampton, Mass.
Henry Adams Thompson (March 23, 1837 – July 8, 1920)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1880)
A boy in Stormstown, Penn.
Absolom Madden West (1818 – September 30, 1894)
VP candidate for Greenback Party 1884
A "planter" in Holmes County, Miss.
Marietta Lizzie Bell Stow (1830? – December 27, 1902)
VP candidate for Equal Rights Party (aka National Equal Rights Party) (1884)
VP candidate for National Woman Suffragists' Party (1892)
Probably a teenager in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
William Daniel (January 24, 1826 – October 13, 1897)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1884)
Teenager on Deal Island, Md.
John A. Colvin (January 8, 1841 - February 15, 1900)
VP candidate for Industrial Reform Party (1888)
Small child in Montgomery County, Ohio.
Peter Dinwiddie Wigginton (September 6, 1839 – July 7, 1890)
VP candidate for American Party (1888)
When he was a small boy his family moved from Illinois to Wisconsin in 1843.
William Harrison Thompson Wakefield (December 13, 1834 - July 26, 1913)
VP candidate for United Labor Party (1888)
Probably attending school in Plattville, Wis.
Charles E. Cunningham (July 1, 1823 – April 21, 1895)
VP candidate for Union Labor Party (1888)
Possibly attending school in Maryland and Virginia
John Anderson Brooks (June 3, 1836 – February 3, 1897)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1888)
Boy on a farm in Mason County, Kentucky that had slaves.
Charles Horatio Matchett (May 15, 1843 – October 23, 1919)
VP candidate for Socialist Labor Party (1892)
Was a baby in Brighton, Mass.
James Gaven Field (February 24, 1826 – October 12, 1901)
VP candidate for People's Party (1892)
Teenager in Va.
Simon Bolivar Buckner (April 1, 1823 – January 8, 1914)
VP candidate for National Democratic Party (1896)
Graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1844, 11th in his class.
Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (November 3, 1831 – January 1, 1901)
VP candidate for People's Party (aka Populist Party aka Middle of the Road Populists) (1900)
Attending school in Philadelphia.
Henry Brewer Metcalf (April 2, 1829 – October 5, 1904)
VP candidate for Prohibition Party (1900)
Teenager in Boston, apprentice to a dry goods importing company.
Thomas Henry Tibbles (May 22, 1840 – May 14, 1928)
VP candidate for People's Party (aka Populist Party) (1904)
Small child in Washington County, Ohio.
Lorenzo Stephen Coffin (April 29, 1823 - January 17, 1915)
VP candidate for United Christian Party (1908)
Probably a student at Oberlin.
Fun facts of the time slot:
1843 - First edition of Sketch of the Analytical Engine / by Ada Lovelace
1843 May 22 - "Great Migration" begins-- First large wagon train departs Missouri for the Pacific Northwest
1843 May 28 – Noah Webster died (b. 1758)
1843 July 12 - Mormon prophet Joseph Smith declares polygamy to be acceptable
1843 Dec. 19 - A Christmas Carol / by Charles Dickens.
1844 Feb. 28 - During a ceremonial cruise, guns on the USS Princeton explode, killing cabinet members and other officials. President Tyler was safely below deck.
1844 May 22 - Mary Cassatt born (d. 1926)
1844 May 24 - Samuel Morse sends first telegram "What hath God wrought"
1844 May 27 - John Tyler's third party, the Democratic-Republican Party, nominates him for another term, but he eventually withdraws.
1844 June 24 - President Tyler age 54 marries Julia Gardiner age 24.
1844 June 27 - Joseph Smith killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill.
1844 June-July - Great Flood of 1844, Missouri and Mississippi rivers
1844 Aug. 28 - Marx and Engels meet.
1844 Oct. 15 - Friedrich Nietzsche born (d. 1900)
1844 Oct. 22 - The date predicted by the Millerites for the Second Coming of Jesus
1844 Dec. 4 - James K. Polk is elected President.
