Thomas Russell Gerry entered the United States Navy as a midshipman on December 6, 1814, near the end of the War of 1812. A son of Vice President Elbridge Gerry and Ann Thompson Gerry, he belonged to a family whose younger generation included several naval officers. His own service must be distinguished from that of his brother James Thompson Gerry, the later commander of the sloop Albany.

Gerry remained in the naval establishment during the postwar period. Family correspondence records efforts to secure his advancement: his mother approached Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson in 1818, and his brother Elbridge recommended his promotion in 1822. He received a lieutenant's commission dated January 13, 1825. The official naval register for 1830 confirms both his original entry date and his commission, identifying Massachusetts as his home state and listing him on leave of absence rather than assigned to a particular ship.

In June 1830 Gerry married Hannah Green Goelet, connecting his household with a prominent New York merchant family. He resigned his naval commission on August 27, 1833, ending almost nineteen years on the service rolls. The couple had a son, Elbridge Thomas, and a daughter, Almy Goelet. Gerry died in New Rochelle, New York, in October 1848. The securely documented outline of his career is his naval appointment, promotion, and resignation; later prominence of his children and descendants should not be mistaken for public offices or achievements of his own.