Samuel Finley Vinton (September 25, 1792 – May 11, 1862) was a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

from March 4, 1823 to March 3, 1837 and again from March 4, 1843 to March 3, 1851.

Biography

Born in

South Hadley, Massachusetts South Hadley (, ) is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,150 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts. South Hadle ...

, Vinton was the son of Abiatha and Sarah (Day) Vinton. He graduated from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

in 1814, paying his way through school by teaching. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

in 1816. He then moved to southern

and practiced law in

Gallipolis Gallipolis ( ) is a village in Gallia County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in Southeast Ohio along the Ohio River about southeast of Chillicothe and northwest of Charleston, West Virginia. The population was 3,313 ...

. On August 18, 1824, he married Romaine Madeleine Bureau, daughter of John Peter Roman Bureau and Madeleine Françoise Charlotte Marret, in Gallia County, Ohio. She died in 1831, after the couple had had a son and a daughter, Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren. After holding various local offices, he was elected to the Eighteenth Congress on a non-partisan ballot. Vinton was re-elected to the Nineteenth,

Twentieth 20 (twenty) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units is sometimes referred to as a score. In mathematics Twenty is a composite number. It is also the smallest primitive abundant number. The Happy Family of ...

, Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty Third and Twenty-fourth Congresses. In the Twenty-third Congress he was an Anti-Jacksonian

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

and in the Twenty-fourth and succeeding Congresses he was a Whig. He did not seek re-election in 1836, returning to Ohio to his successful practice of law. Whig

Presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

in 1840 for

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places Australia * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin Canada * Inukjuak, Quebec, or "Port H ...

/ Tyler. However, he returned to Congress in 1843, again as a Whig. In his second service in Congress, he was a member of the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses. He was noted for his service on the

Public Lands Committee In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

, helping to create the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

, and, as

Thomas Ewing Thomas Ewing Sr. (December 28, 1789October 26, 1871) was a National Republican and Whig politician from Ohio. He served in the U.S. Senate and also served as the fourteenth secretary of the treasury and the first secretary of the interior. ...

put it, had "more influence in the House of Representatives, much more, than any other man in it." He was an authority on

parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedures are the accepted Procedural law, rules, ethics, and Norm (sociology), customs governing meetings of an deliberative assembly, assembly or organization. Their object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of inte ...

and in the Thirtieth Congress, he declined the Speakership but took the chairmanship of the

Ways and Means Committee A ways and means committee is a government body that is charged with reviewing and making recommendations for government budgets. Because the raising of revenue is vital to carrying out governmental operations, such a committee is tasked with fi ...

instead. President

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and the last to be neither a De ...

offered him the post of

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

, but he declined. He did not run for re-election in 1850, instead running for

Governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

as a Whig in 1851. In 1853, he became president of the

Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, retiring the next year to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

In 1862, President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

appointed him to appraise the value of slaves freed in the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. He died in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

that year and was buried in

Gallipolis, Ohio Gallipolis ( ) is a village in Gallia County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in Southeast Ohio along the Ohio River about southeast of Chillicothe and northwest of Charleston, West Virginia. The population was 3,313 at ...

. He was a trustee of

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

from 1848 to 1862.

Personal life

His daughter, Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren was a writer. His son-in-law was Admiral John A. Dahlgren.

Legacy

Vinton County, Ohio Vinton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,800, making it the least populous county of Ohio. Its county seat is McArthur. The county is named for Samuel Finley Vinton, US Repr ...

and

Vinton, Ohio Vinton is a village in Gallia County, Ohio, United States. The population was 224 at the 2020 census. It is part of the rural Point Pleasant micropolitan area. History Vinton was platted in 1832. A post office called Vinton has been in operati ...

are named for him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinton, Samuel Finley 1792 births 1862 deaths People from South Hadley, Massachusetts Ohio Democratic-Republicans Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Ohio National Republicans National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio 1840 United States presidential electors Ohio lawyers Ohio University trustees Williams College alumni 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Biography

Personal life

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links