Lewis B. Gunckel (October 15, 1826 – October 3, 1903) was an
attorney
Attorney may refer to:
* Lawyer
** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions
* Attorney, one who has power of attorney
* ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film
See also
* Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...
,
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
, advocate for
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
disabled soldiers and their families, commissioner and a member of the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
from
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
.
Heritage and early life
Lewis Gunckel was born in
Germantown, Ohio
Germantown is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,547 at the 2010 census. A part of the Dayton metropolitan area, Germantown was founded by German Americans from Pennsylvania and was once home to a cigar ind ...
, a village originally laid out and founded by his paternal grandfather in 1805. Lewis was the son of Michael and Barbara (Shuey) Gunckel. Michael Gunckel served in the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
in active service and rose to the rank of
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
. He afterward represented his county in the Ohio legislature.
Lewis' paternal grandfather, Philip Gunckel, was elected in 1806 to represent
Montgomery County in the
Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus ...
and elected again in 1808 to represent Montgomery and
Preble counties at the Assembly. In 1816, the grandfather was appointed by the General Assembly to be associate judge of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, in which capacity he served for fifteen years. Lewis Gunckel's maternal great-grandfather, John Martin Shuey's father, was elected to represent the
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Lengeschder Kaundi), sometimes nicknamed the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the south central part of Pennsylvania. ...
Committee of Inspection to cooperate with the
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
in the years preparatory to the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, although he died before the
Declaration of Independence was signed.
In 1860, Lewis B. Gunckel married Catharine Winters, a daughter of Valentine Winters, a prominent capitalist and banker of
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
. They had four children — Winters, Katharine, Lewis W., and Percy, the second and third of whom survived to adulthood.
Education and early legal career
Gunckel pursued preparatory studies in the local schools, attended
Miami University
Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...
and was graduated from Farmer's College at College Hill in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, in 1848. He decided to prepare for the legal profession, and after graduation read law in Dayton, and subsequently entered the
Cincinnati Law School where he was graduated in 1851.
Gunckel was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1851 and commenced practice in Dayton. He was joined in the practice in 1853 by Hiram Strong who remained his partner until Strong was killed in the Civil War nine years later. Edward L. Rowe joined Gunckel in 1869 and the firm became Gunckel & Rowe. Over the years the name became Gunckel, Rowe & Gunckel, Gunckel, Rowe & Shuey. One of his associates was
John A. McMahon
John A. McMahon (February 19, 1833 – March 8, 1923) was a three-term United States Representative from Ohio from 1875 to 1881. He was the nephew of Clement Vallandigham, another Representative from Ohio.
Biography
McMahon was born in Fre ...
with whom he sparred politically. The firm has continuously existed from 1853 down to the present under a variety of names as additional partners became active or retired from the firm and is one of the oldest law firms in Ohio.
Public service
Upon attaining his majority in 1847, Gunckel joined the
Whig party. At its dissolution, he refused to join in the
Know-Nothing movement
The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...
, but upon the organization of the
Republican party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
he at once transferred his allegiance to it, being one of the first local members. He presided and spoke at the first Montgomery county Republican meeting and was a delegate to the first
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
, which nominated
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...
. In 1864, he was a
Republican presidential elector
The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...
and canvassed Ohio for
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 ...
.
In 1862 he was elected to the
Ohio 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 ...
and for four years was one of its leaders as chairman of the judiciary committee. A stalwart Union man during the Civil War, he was a supporter of the policies of Lincoln. He led enactment of measures to aid prosecution of the war and to protect the families of soldiers. When his bill for soldiers' families relief was assailed — its constitutionality questioned and a plea of economy urged — Gunckel replied:
We can economize elsewhere, retrench everywhere, and save enough to the state in its local and general expenses to make up the entire sum; but if not, we should bear it cheerfully, heroically. We must fight or pay; we ought to do both.
He authored the bill granting to Ohio soldiers in the field the right to vote—a right which many thousands of them exercised. He introduced a bill that established a State of Ohio soldiers' home for returning veterans and after his senate service was appointed by the Governor as its manager.
The gradual disappearance of state hospitals and soldiers' retreats resulted in the creation of more substantial national homes. An act of Congress was approved March 31, 1865, appointing a Board of Managers of the
National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. The board elected General
Benjamin F. Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is best ...
President, and Lewis B. Gunckel Secretary. The act authorized the Board to establish one or more homes, and under it four Homes were created. Gunckel was influential in the measures taken to establish the
National Soldiers' Home (Central Home) in Dayton. The organization of the Central Home as an institution dates from March 26, 1867, at which date Gunckel, Resident Manager, took formal charge of the disabled soldiers then at the Home, a role he would continue for the next decade. The people of Dayton regarded this as his greatest and best work.
In the selection of a site for the Central Home, the Board of Managers looked at the rich and fertile
Miami Valley, and entered into negotiations for the purchase of of land, about three miles (5 km) west of the city of Dayton. The cost of this site was $46,800 of which $20,000 was a donation from the citizens of Dayton under the leadership of Gunckel. Congress had given to the Home the lumber from temporary buildings at
Camp Chase, and under Gunckel's direction buildings were rapidly and economically constructed and filled with disabled soldiers as fast as they were made ready.
In 1871,
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
's
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 ...
appointed Gunckel special commissioner to investigate frauds upon the
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
,
Creek
A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet.
Creek may also refer to:
People
* Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans
...
and
Chickasaw Indians. His subsequent report led not only to the detection and punishment of the guilty parties, but to important reforms in the Indian service.
In 1872, Gunckel was elected to the
Forty-third United States Congress
The 43rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1873, ...
from
Ohio's 4th congressional district
Ohio's 4th congressional district spans sections of the central part of the state. It is currently represented by Republican Jim Jordan, the current chair of the House Judiciary Committee, who has represented the district since 2007.
Areas repr ...
. He served on the military committee, became conspicuous in the House by his relentless opposition to public corruption and organized raids on the national treasury. He voted to repeal the bill known as the "
salary grab," and always refused to accept the salary due him under the retroactive clause of that law. He was a frequent speaker, both on the floor of the House and in public meetings, on the need for cheap transportation. In 1874, Gunckel was unanimously nominated by his party for re-election, but the country was suffering from the financial
Panic of 1873 and was torn by the
temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
. These brought about a political revolution in Ohio and resulted in the election of
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 (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
John A. McMahon, Gunckel's law partner. Gunckel was nominated again in 1884, but declined to run.
Return to legal practice
After serving in Congress, Gunckel returned to Dayton and continued his practice of law. It was said that "he has the courage to fight for a principle and the persistence to continue the fight to the last ditch; but he has learned by experience and observation that compromise is often better than litigation; that higher courage is sometimes displayed by him who conciliates than by him who fights. The greatest lawyer is understood to be the one who protects the interest of his client without litigation. It requires tact and skill and superior ability to gain the ends aimed at by diplomacy." He was known as "the peacemaker of the Dayton bar."
He was a delegate from the Ohio state bar to the newly formed
National Bar Association from 1888 to 1890, also serving as treasurer and member of the executive committee of the latter. In the later years of his life, Gunckel was President of the Dayton Public Savings Bank.
Gunckel died of pneumonia and heart trouble in Dayton and is interred in
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum (200 acres), located at 118 Woodland Avenue, Dayton, Ohio, is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the United States.
Woodland was incorporated in 1842 by John Whitten Van Cleve, the first male child born in D ...
.
References
* ''The History of Montgomery County, Ohio.'' Chicago: W. H. Beers & Co., 1882.
* Kennedy, James Harrison. ''The bench and bar of Cleveland.'' Cleveland: Cleveland Printing and Publishing Co., 1889, 376 pgs.
* Edgar, John F. ''Pioneer Life In Dayton and Vicinity 1796-1840.'' Dayton, Ohio: United Brethren Publishing House, W. J. Shuey, Publisher, 1896.
* Conover, Frank, ed. ''Centennial Portrait and Biographical Record of the City of Dayton and of Montgomery County, Ohio.'' Logansport, Ind.: A. W. Bowen & Co., Press of Wilson, Humphreys & Co., 1897.
* ''History of the Republican Party in Ohio.'' Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1898, 1579 pgs.
* Taylor, William Alexander. ''Ohio in Congress from 1803 to 1901.'' Columbus, Ohio: XX Century Publishing Company, 1900, ©1899, 319 pgs.
* "Lewis B. Gunckel." New York ''Times'', October 4, 1903, pg. 7.
Further reading
* ''Alleged frauds against certain Indian soldiers: June 8, 1872'': laid on the table and ordered to be printed.
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, ...
: The House, 1872, 590 pgs.
External links
National Military Home - Dayton, OhioHon. Lewis B. Gunckel of Ohio, Speech on Cheap Transportation, March 25, 1874
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunckel, Lewis B.
1826 births
1903 deaths
People from Germantown, Ohio
Ohio Whigs
Ohio state senators
People of Ohio in the American Civil War
Burials at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum
Miami University alumni
University of Cincinnati College of Law alumni
19th-century American legislators
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio