Thomas L. Hisgen

Although he toured the country on the campaign trail, Hisgen's poorer-than-expected showing at the polls in November 1908 spelled the end for the Independence Party (82,537 = 0.55% of the vote), many of whose members rejoined the Democrats.

Hisgen subsequently remained in the public eye as a periodic commentator on events in the petroleum industry.

He was educated in a small country school and was forced by economic circumstances to go to work at an early age to help provide financial support for his parents and siblings.

[1] In 1875, when Hisgen was 16, he and his family returned from Indiana to New York, where he and two brothers worked as clerks in a clothing store.

[1] His father, who had some basic knowledge of chemistry, had long worked at creating a new and improved axle grease compound which could be patented and marketed.