Trower, Thomas B.

Born: 1807-11-15 Albemarle County, Virginia

Died: 1878-04-15 Coles County, Illinois

When Trower was a boy, his family moved from Virginia to Kentucky, where Trower studied medicine. In 1830, he moved to Illinois and settled in Shelbyville, where he was a practicing physician. He married his wife Polly Ann Cutler, daughter of Judge Jacob Cutler, in 1831. They had five children. In 1834, Trower was elected to represented Shelby and Macon counties in the Illinois House of Representatives, where he served alongside Abraham Lincoln. After serving in the Illinois House, Trower moved his family to Charleston, in Coles County, where he continued to practice medicine. Trower was the vice president of the First National Bank of Charleston and was also the president of the Moultrie County Bank. In 1847, he served as a delegate to the state's Constitutional Convention. In 1850, he owned $4,000 in real estate.

History of Coles County, Illinois (Chicago: William Le Baron, 1879), 298, 535; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 204; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Coles County, IL, 35.