Thomas Kittera

The career of Thomas Kittera mirrored that of his father for a time, since both were lawyers who became members of Congress. John studied at Princeton University under one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He served during the American Revolution and created a prominent law practice in Lancaster County before serving ten years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Two years before he began his first term in Congress, Thomas was born, followed by two daughters. Thomas grew up learning about the law and how laws were made from his father. Unfortunately, his father died when he was 12. 

His education continued at the University of Pennsylvania, where the records say he graduated in 1805. That puts his age at 16, meaning he was either extremely gifted, academically, or the curriculum was more simply structured than it was in later years. He continued in law school, was admitted to the bar in 1808, but instead of returning home to Lancaster he hung out his shingle in Philadelphia.

There are no records suggesting Thomas ever married and had children. The following timeline of events includes information in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. He first dabbled in politics by serving from 1817-1818 as Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. He won an election to serve on Philadelphia’s Common Council for a year in 1821, and served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1821-24. 

Thomas won a two-year term on the Select Council from 1822-24. (The city’s legislative branch had two houses, modeled after the federal government.) He was voted president of the Select Council for the 1824-26 term while he was also serving as Deputy Attorney General of Philadelphia.

With that level of popularity he decided to run for Congress. A special election in 1826 was held to fill the unexpired term of a representative who resigned, which Thomas won. He served in the 19th Congress in Washington, D.C. from October 10th until March 3, 1827, but he was not reelected to a full term in the 20th Congress. Unlike his father, the impact of his public service was on the local level.

And with that brief experience behind him, he returned to private practice for the next dozen years until his death. Thomas was a Freemason and held the highest office at the state level. The portrait above is housed at the Masonic Temple at Broad & Filbert Streets.

After his death in 1839 his burial was at St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church Cemetery. When the church decided to relocate their burial ground to Mount Moriah in 1870, his grave was moved and marked with this memorial stone in Section 41.