John McDermeid Gearin (August 15, 1851November 12, 1930) was an American politician and attorney from the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. A native of the eastern portion of the state, he represented

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

on the western side of the state in the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...

. Originally an

independent politician An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

, he later became a Democrat and lost an election to serve in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

before winning appointment to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1905. He also was Portland's city attorney and a district attorney.

Early life

John Gearin was born on August 15, 1851, near Pendleton in

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost ...

. His parents, John and Ellen Burns Gearin, were from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

.Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 97. After attending the local public schools, Gearin enrolled at St. Mary's College in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

from 1863 to 1867.Colmer, Montagu, and Charles Erskine Scott Wood. 1910. ''History of the Bench and Bar of Oregon''. Portland, Or: Historical Pub. Co. p. 138. In 1871, he graduated with a bachelor of laws degree from the

University of Notre Dame Law School Notre Dame Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Notre Dame. Established in 1869, it is the oldest continuously operating Catholic Church, Catholic law school in the United States. ND Law is ranked 22nd among th ...

. In 1873, he was admitted to the Oregon

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

after studying law, and then entered private legal practice in

at what is now

Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP Miller Nash LLP is an American law firm based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1873, the limited liability partnership has 153 attorneys firm wide. As of 2017, it was the third largest law firm in Portland when it had 86 at ...

. On June 28, 1878, Gearin married Matilda Raleigh. They had three children together.

Political career

In 1874, he was elected to the

and served in the 1874 legislative session.1874 Regular Session (8th).
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on December 10, 2008. Gearin was elected as an independent to represent District 43 in

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...

. The next year he was

city attorney A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality. Unlike a district attorney or public defender, who usually handles criminal cases, a city at ...

of Portland. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for election in 1878 to the Forty-sixth Congress, and was

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

for

from 1884 to 1886. Gearin was appointed by U.S. President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

in 1893 as

special prosecutor In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exis ...

for the government concerning cases of

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

fraud. He was then appointed to 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 ...

by Oregon Governor

George Earle Chamberlain George Earle Chamberlain Sr. (January 1, 1854 – July 9, 1928) was an American attorney, politician, and public official in Oregon. A native of Mississippi and member of the Democratic Party, Chamberlain's political achievements included appoin ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the death of sitting Senator

John H. Mitchell John Hipple Mitchell, also known as John Mitchell Hipple, John H. Mitchell, or J. H. Mitchell (June 22, 1835December 8, 1905) was an American lawyer, politician, and convicted criminal. He served as a Republican United States Senator from Oregon ...

in 1905. Gearin served from December 13, 1905, until January 23, 1907, and was not a candidate for election in 1907 to fill the vacancy.

Later years

After leaving the Senate he returned to his law practice in Portland. John Gearin died on November 12, 1930, at the age of 79 in Portland. He was buried in that city at the Mount Calvary Cemetery. He had been a member of the

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gearin, John 1851 births 1930 deaths Politicians from Pendleton, Oregon Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives District attorneys in Oregon Notre Dame Law School alumni Saint Mary's College of California alumni Democratic Party United States senators from Oregon Burials at Mount Calvary Cemetery (Portland, Oregon) Oregon city attorneys