Thomas M. Foote

Thomas Moses Foote (August 9, 1808 – February 20, 1858) was an American diplomat and newspaper editor.

Thomas M. Foote
Born	August 9, 1808
Died	February 20, 1858
Education	Hamilton College College of Physicians and Surgeons
Occupation(s)	Diplomat, newspaper editor
Spouse	Margaret (St. John) Foote

Biography

Early life

Thomas Moses Foote was born on August 9, 1808. Thomas Moses Foote graduated from Hamilton College in 1825. He went on to study medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Fairfield, New York where he received his medical diploma.

Career

He practiced medicine for a short time and later pursued a career to journalism. He was editor of the Albany State Register and the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. Mr. Foote's editorial writings were distinguished for wit and grace of diction. He was a man of extensive reading and an entertaining talker.

On May 29, 1849, President Zachary Taylor (12th President of the United States) appointed Dr. Thomas Moses Foote served as U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to New Granada (Colombia). He was commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned on March 18, 1850, after confirmation. Dr. Thomas Moses Foote Presentation of Credentials: January 5, 1850 and left this post about October 15, 1850.

Later appointed by President Millard Fillmore (13th President of the United States) on September 16, 1852, he was appointed as U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to the Austrian Empire. Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on January 20, 1853. Dr. Thomas Moses Foote Presentation of Credentials: December 14, 1852. Termination of Mission: Presented recall on June 25, 1853.

Dr. Thomas M. Foote had projected a life of Fillmore, but failing health compelled the abandonment of the project. Use of the material which he had prepared devolved on Dr. Foote's associate on the "Commercial" staff, Ivory Chamberlain. cf. Buffalo Historical Society, Publications, vol. XI.

Personal life

Thomas Moses Foote was the son of Moses Foote III (January 4, 1770 - 1840) and Martha Foote (Brown) (February 9, 1781 - December 29, 1840). Thomas Moses Foote had two sisters Helen Foote (1803-1844) and Adelia Foote (1805-1878).

He was married Aug. 10, 1836 to Margaret St. John of Buffalo. On July 27, 1849, while packing for their journey to Bogota, Margaret contracted cholera and died. On 18 June 1851, he married Julia Allen Wilkeson, daughter of General Ethan B. Allen, widow of Eli R. Wilkeson (son of Judge Samuel Wilkeson, who had also married one of the St. John daughters). During the stay in Vienna, Julia entered the final stages of tuberculosis. The day after their return to New York City on the Baltic Collins Line steamship Baltic, his wife died at the age of 33, reportedly having been in feeble health for some time. In 1857, he married a third time, to Maria Bird, daughter of Col. William A. Bird, but he died shortly after this marriage. He had two children by Margaret St. John. His daughter, Helen Margaret Foote was born on May 26, 1839 in Buffalo, Erie County, New York. Helen later married Colonel Theodore B. Hamilton, son of Dr. Frank Hastings Hamilton and Mary Van Doren Van Arsdale. Helen Margaret Foote died on 14-Feb-1876 at Plainfield, Union County, New Jersey, at age 36.

Death

He died in Buffalo on February 20, 1858, after an illness of five days. Dr. Thomas M. Foote is buried at Forest Lawn in Buffalo, Erie County, New York, Plot Section 20 lot 68, east 1/2.

Obituary published February 22, 1858 in the Buffalo Daily Republic

Death of Dr. Thomas M. Foote

We announce, with emotions of profound grief, the death of Dr. Thomas M. Foote, of the Commercial Advertiser. The melancholy event took place at his residence, in this city, on Saturday evening, after a very short illness. Some years ago, he was stricken with partial paralysis, which sadly deranged his nervous system, although it did not affect his mental vigor. A recurrence of the disease was the immediate cause of death.

Dr. Foote was educated as a physician, a profession which seems to have possessed few attractions for him, and which he abandoned, at a very early period, for that of journalism. Taking the editorial chair of the Commercial in 1836, he filled it with extraordinary ability until 1849, when he accepted the appointment from President Taylor of Charge to Bogota, which he resigned after holding it for a little more that a year. Mr. Fillmore succeeding to the Presidency, that gentlemen, with a grateful remembrance of the obligations imposed upon him by the steady friendship and unwavering fidelity of Dr. Foote, tendered him the first-class mission to Austria, which was accepted. To those who knew Dr. Foote, it is unnecessary to say, that in both of the positions, to which we have alluded, he acquitted himself in a manner creditable to himself and satisfactory to the country.

It was in the editorial profession, however, where his genius and ability were most conspicuous; and where his distinction was chiefly acquired. Possessed of an intellect of great native vigor, which was enriched by education, strengthened by study and observation, cultivated by travel, and refined by association, he was admirably qualified for the profession of his choice. With an appreciation of its responsibilities, which we regret is not more general among public journalists, he seldom or never was guilty of the properties of journalism but always confined himself to fair and manly discussions of measures of public policy, not unmixed with respectful deference to the opinions and feelings of others. Indeed, we have never known a conductor of a partisan journal so charitable in his construction of the views of others, while so firm and able in the maintenance of his own. His varied learning and his large experience had placed all the weapons for successful controversy at his disposal, which he always used, when constrained to enter the lists, with more than ordinary effect. His style was clear, classic and condensed, and he has left on record volumes of political and other essays, which would enhance the literary and intellectual reputation of any living man.

In his intercourse with his fellow-men, he was eminently kind and considerate. He always viewed the actions of men from the most favorable point, and found his greatest pleasure in speaking the best he could of human kind. We have a lively recollection of his frequent and earnest efforts, in social life, in defense of those who were too harshly judged by others. The desire seemed paramount with him, in all his relations with his fellow-men, “to reconcile old faith and fancies new”, and to find everything, particularly those things most unpopular with the superficial observer, something from which  real good could be extracted.

In recognizing, as we do with unaffected sorrow, recognize the inscrutable degree of an Omnipotent Being which separates him from us forever, it would be a relief to speak of him with the affection with which we regarded him; but even here, where the whole community are participants in this melancholy bereavement, we do not feel at liberty to indulge the expression of emotions which overwhelm us. Let it suffice, that we have paid a feeble tribute to the memory of an able man, whose public and professional labors, now that they are brought to a close, deserve the grateful recognition of the community.