Franklin Thomas Backus (6 May 1813 – 14 May 1870) was an American lawyer and politician. He was a defense attorney in the Oberlin–Wellington Rescue case and the

Case Western Reserve University School of Law Case Western Reserve University School of Law is one of eight schools at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the first schools accredited by the American Bar Association. It is a member of the Association of American ...

was once named for him.

Life

Backus was born in Lee, Mass., 6 May 1813. He was the fourth son of Thomas and Rebecca Backus. While he was very young the family moved to

Lansing, New York Lansing () is a town in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 11,691 at the 2020 census. The town is named after John Lansing. People from Lansing were early settlers of Lansing, Michigan, and named it after their hometo ...

He prepared himself for college while assistant teacher in an academy in Delaware kept by an older brother, and entered Yale College as a Junior in 1834. On leaving college in 1836, he established a classical school in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, and at the same time began the study of law. Several notable younger Clevelanders attended his school, including

Leonard Case, Jr. Leonard Case Jr. (January 27, 1820 – January 6, 1880) was a philanthropist from Cleveland, Ohio, who endowed the Case School of Applied Science (later Case Institute of Technology, merging with Western Reserve University to become Case Western ...

William Case William Case (August 10, 1818 – April 19, 1862) was an American politician of the Whig Party and served as the 12th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1850 and 1851. He was the first Cleveland-born citizen to become mayor. In his early career, ...

, George Hoadly, and

Horace Kelley Horace A. Kelley (July 18, 1819 – December 4, 1890) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Kelley was raised on Kelleys Island after the death of his father in 1823. Inheriting a fortune of real estate as we ...

. In 1839 he was admitted to the bar. In January 1842, he married Miss Lucy Mygatt, who survived him. In 1846 he was member of the Ohio House of Representatives, and in 1848 of the

Ohio State Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...

. In 1861 he was a member of the Peace Convention which met in Washington, with the hope of averting the American Civil War. The later years of his life were devoted to the duties of his profession, in which he had become eminent. His services were especially sought for by railroad corporations, and it is to the excessive and exhausting labor thus brought upon him that his death, from a disease of the heart, is to be attributed. He died in Cleveland, 14 May 1870.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Backus, Franklin Thomas 1813 births 1870 deaths People from Lee, Massachusetts Yale College alumni Ohio lawyers Ohio state senators Members of the Ohio House of Representatives Lawyers from Cleveland Ohio Whigs 19th-century American politicians Ohio Republicans Ohio Democrats County district attorneys in Ohio Burials at Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland 19th-century American lawyers