Francis Thomas  (1810-1890)

Easton (Talbot County) Lawyer, Democrat
Comptroller - 1851-1853

As Maryland governor (1848-1851), the Thomas administration was instrumental in a new constitution that created the elected office of "Comptroller of the Treasury" in 1851. He was the first Comptroller and set up the office in 1851 with one clerk and an annual salary of $2,500. After serving as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury on the eve of the Civil War, he became a Confederate sympathizer and retired from public life. After the war, Thomas was prevented from becoming a U.S. senator, but later served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Maryland House of Delegates.