George Washington Manypenny (1808 – July 15, 1892) was the

Commissioner of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal government of the United States, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

of the United States from 1853 to 1857.

Early life

George Washington Manypenny was born in 1808 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He moved to Ohio around 1830 and settled in

St. Clairsville, Ohio St. Clairsville is a city in and the county seat of Belmont County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,096 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Wheeling metropolitan area. History The seat of justice of Belmont County was originally know ...

Career

After moving to St. Clairsville, Manypenny became the editor and proprietor of the ''St. Clairsville Gazette''. He owned a

stage line A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

that ran on the National Road, from Maryland to Ohio. He also served as superintendent of a portion of the National Road. In 1836, Manypenny and two partners organized the Opposition Defiance Fast Lane, a mail carrier organization. In 1838, Manypenny moved to Zanesville, Ohio. He worked as a contractor on the first dam and canal in Zanesville on the Muskingum River. In 1842, Manypenny was admitted to the bar in

Muskingum County Muskingum County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,410. Its county seat is Zanesville. Nearly bisected by the Muskingum River, the county name is based on a Delaware American Indian ...

. He practiced law with Corrington Searle and John O'Neill. He served as clerk of the circuit court based in Zanesville from 1841 to 1846. In 1853, Manypenny was a competitor at the Democratic State Convention for governor, but lost the nomination to

William Medill William Medill (February 1802September 2, 1865) was a Democratic politician from Ohio. He served as the 22nd governor of Ohio from 1853 to 1856. Biography Born in White Clay Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, William was the son of Irish ...

. Manypenny was appointed as

during the administration of President

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was responsible for settling 52 treaties during his tenure, many of them in Kansas and Nebraska. He was offered the role of commissioner again by President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

during his second administration, but Manypenny declined. He held the position of special Indian commissioner under appointments by Presidents Grant,

Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Ha ...

and Garfield. Manypenny then moved to

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. From 1859 to 1862 Manypenny was editor of the '' Ohio Statesman''. He then retired from the newspaper business. He was appointed as Superintendent of the Ohio State Canals by the Governor, and worked as the general manager of the public works of Ohio. He ran as a Democratic candidate for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, but lost in the Democratic caucus. In 1876 Manypenny was appointed chair of a special commission to investigate the issues that led to the Sioux outbreak that year, which included the defeat of the American forces under George Armstrong Custer at the

battle of the Little Bighorn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...

. In 1880 Manypenny served as president of the commission for the

Ute people Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...

. In 1880 Manypenny wrote ''Our Indian Wards'' which detailed a variety of wrongs perpetrated on the Indians, along with recommendations for reforms.

Personal life

Manypenny married three times. He married Miss Ellis of St. Clairsville. Her brother-in-laws included William Kennon Sr.,

Hugh J. Jewett Hugh Judge Jewett (July 1, 1817 – March 6, 1898) was an American railroader and politician. He served as the United States representative from Ohio's 12th congressional district in the 43rd United States Congress. Early life Jewett was bo ...

, Wilson Shannon and Isaac E. Eaton. He married Emeline Neale (died 1849) of

Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia, Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Little Kanawha River, Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and ...

. He married Mary B. Woods, sister of

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Justice

William Burnham Woods William Burnham Woods (August 3, 1824 – May 14, 1887) was an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States circuit judge and an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court as well as an Ohio politician and soldier i ...

and General

Charles R. Woods Charles Robert Woods (February 19, 1827 – February 26, 1885) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War. He is noted for commanding the relief troops that first attempted to resupply Fort Sumter ...

. He had at least five children, including Willie, Elizabeth/Bettie, Lewis, Sallie and Burnham W. Manypenny lived at a three-story house on North Fourth Street in Zanesville. He was a member of the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

. In 1880, Manypenny moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Manypenny died on July 15, 1892, at his home in Bowie, Maryland.

References

;Attributions * * * * * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manypenny, George Washington 1808 births 1892 deaths People from Uniontown, Pennsylvania People from St. Clairsville, Ohio People from Zanesville, Ohio 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers American transportation businesspeople United States Bureau of Indian Affairs personnel Methodists from Pennsylvania