Thomas Ward Veazey was descended from John Veazey, who emigrated from England to Maryland in the latter half of the seventeenth century.
In what became Cecil County, he acquired a plantation, "Cherry Grove, " which remained in the family for many generations. Here was born Thomas Ward, the son of Edward Veazey, a planter who was also high sheriff of Cecil County from 1751 to 1753, and of Elizabeth (De Coursey) of Queen Anne County.
After graduating from Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland, in 1795, Veazey became a planter at "Cherry Grove. "
Veazey was interested in politics, and in 1808 and 1812 was chosen presidential elector, voting for James Madison. In 1811 and again in 1812, he was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates; but he left it to become a lieutenant-colonel of Maryland troops in the War of 1812. From 1833 to 1835, he served on the council of Gov. James Thomas. In January 1836, he was elected on the Whig ticket to succeed Thomas, and was reelected in the two years following.
His first term was troubled by strife over the state constitution. At that time, Maryland was a mere federation of counties and cities in which the majority of the population could be dominated in the legislature by the minority. The state Senate was chosen by an electoral college. In the voting of 1836 for these electors, nineteen Democrats were chosen to represent districts totaling more than 200, 000 population, whereas twenty-one Whigs represented less than half that number. Bent upon remedying this state of affairs, the Democratic electors asked the Whigs to agree in advance to choose a majority of men who favored constitutional reform; when the Whig electors refused, the Democrats left for home instead of going into session to elect senators.
Veazey met the situation courageously, announcing that the old Senate would continue to function until a new one was legally elected; and he called upon the existing senators to assemble for duty. Public opinion supported the Governor, and the recusant electors returned to Annapolis and cooperated in electing a new Senate. Following up this moral victory, Veazey recommended constitutional reform in his message of Nov. 25, 1836, and the episode resulted in the adoption of a series of amendments amounting practically to a new instrument of government.
The zenith of Veazey's career was being the 24th Governor of the state from 1836 to 1839 when he was selected to serve three consecutive one-year terms by the Maryland General Assembly. Veazey was the last Maryland governor to be elected in this fashion and also the last Whig Party member to serve as Maryland governor.
Veazey's other policies were also, in general, wise and progressive. He urged a registration law to prevent fraud in elections; he stood for sound financial methods; he encouraged internal improvements, especially the completion of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; and he recommended repeatedly the reorganization and expansion of the educational system with the aim of making it general and public.
Owner of many slaves, he was hostile to abolitionist meddling from outside the state, but he favored the work of the American Colonization Society.
Veazey was three times married: on November 18, 1794, to Sarah Worrell of Kent County, Maryland, who died in 1795, leaving an infant daughter who did not survive childhood; on March 29, 1798, to Mary Veazey, a cousin, who bore him five children; and on September 24, 1812, to Mary Wallace of Elkton, Maryland, who also bore him five children.
Was a planter.
14 November 1800 - 15 December 1801
Died on 26 December 1795.
17 September 1789 - 7 July 1867
3 December 1816 - 21 October 1824
21 March 1826 - 17 August 1900
7 January 1830 - 30 July 1903
2 April 1809 - 20 March 1825
15 January 1815 - 21 April 1854
1 August 1813 - 20 June 1897
26 March 1799 - 14 December 1870
