Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whanau a Thomas Johnson Pickett i te Poutu-te-rangi 17, 1821, i Louisville, Kentucky. I te tau 1830, ka neke tona whanau ki St. Louis, Missouri, ka neke ano i te tau 1836 ki Peoria, Illinois. I ako a Pickett hei kaiwhakanoho momo, katahi ka whakatu i te "Peoria News" i te tau 1840. Kaore i roa ka hokona e ia te pepa ka whakatu i te "Peoria Transcript". Whai muri i tana whakatu i te pepa tuatahi i Pekin, Illinois, ka neke a Pickett ki Rock Island, Illinois, ka whakatu i te "Rock Island Register". I te tau 1851, i pootihia ia hei perehitini tuatahi o te Illinois Editorial Association. I roto i tenei kaha, i tirotiro ia i te Huihuinga Whakatika i akiaki i te Huihuinga Bloomington, te hanganga o te Illinois Republican Party. I mahi a Pickett hei karere ki te huihuinga, i mahi hoki hei karere ki te
Ko te Huihuinga ā-Motu o te Rōpū Reipa i te mutunga o taua tau.