Thomas Ewing was born in Ohio County, Virginia on December 28, 1789. A whig lawyer, he represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate from 1831 to 1837. He then served as the Secretary of the Treasury in 1841 and as the Secretary of the Interior from 1849 to 1850. In this later role, he oversaw the U.S. Pension Office, as it was housed within the Interior at that time. He later served in the U.S. Senate again from 1850 to 1851. He died in Lancaster, Ohio on October 26, 1871.