As a child Carson excelled in English studies and became a teacher before working for a hat manufacturer and then as a merchant before moving to Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
Carson remained loyal to the Whig party, even through its decline in the 1850s, and was an ardent supporter of Henry Clay.
[1] Carson would be defeated during his re-election bid in the Whig primaries to William Richard Sadler.
The couple had six children including; Eliza Carson Jean who moved to a Allegheny City, Washington King Carson who moved to Baltimore to work at Thomas' brother James Carson's merchant outfit and was a noted early Republican orator and abolitionist to the point he had to flee the city during the Baltimore riot of 1861.
Thomas Erskine Carson died on April 26, 1857, and is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Mercersburg.