Thetus Sims was born on April 25, 1852 near Waynesboro, Tennessee in Wayne County son of George Washington and Sarah Jane Whitson Sims. He attended a private school at Martin Mills and moved with his parents to Savannah, Tennessee in Hardin County in 1862 during the Civil War. Thetus Sims attended Savannah (Tennessee) College and graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee in June 1876. He was admitted to the bar the same year. He married Nannie Kitrell on December 26, 1877, and they had seven children, Edna, Erskine, Tom, Elizabeth, Marie, Paul, and Enid. Sims commenced practice in Linden, Tennessee in Perry County. He was the superintendent of public instruction for Perry County, Tennessee from 1882 to 1884. Sims was elected to the House in the fall of 1896 as a Democrat. He was reelected to the eleven succeeding Congresses. Pushed for the Sims Act, which forbade interstate transportation of fight films, primarily boxing after the Johnson v Flynn fight in 1912. The act was known as the first time Congress took censorship action in regards to films and remained on the book until 1940. Returning to Lexington, Tennessee in Henderson County, Sims resumed the practice of law for a few years. He retired from active business pursuits in 1930 shortly after the beginning of the Great Depression and returned to Washington, D.C. Thetus Sims died on December 17, 1939 (aged 87) In Washington, D.C. He is interred at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He was the father-in-law of politician Louis Brownlow.