Thomas Stevenson Drew (25 August 1802-January 1879) was the Democratic Governor of Arkansas from 9 November 1844 to 10 January 1849, succeeding Samuel Adams and preceding Richard C. Byrd.
Biography[]
Thomas Stevenson Drew was born in Wilson County, Tennessee in 1802, and he was raised in Louisiana and Arkansas. He worked as a traveling salesman and schoolteacher before coming to own a plantation in Biggers, and he served as a county judge before serving as Governor from 1844 to 1849. He prioritized repairing the state's economy and the Democratic Party's unity, passed a law recognizing the right of women to retain their premarital personal property, declared Thanksgiving a state holiday, and suppressed the Tutt-Everett War of 1849. He resigned that same year due to his poor salary, and he moved to Weatherford, Texas during the American Civil War and died in Lipan in 1879.