Samuel Medary (February 25, 1801 – November 7, 1864) was an American newspaper owner and politician.

Biography

Born and raised in

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the List of counties in Pennsylvania, third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the List of the most populous cou ...

, he settled in

Bethel, Ohio Bethel is a village in Tate Township, Clermont County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,711 at the 2010 census. Bethel was founded in 1798 by Obed Denham as Denham Town, in what was then the Northwest Territory. Bethel is the home of th ...

, in 1825. After a term in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

(1834) and the Ohio State Senate (1836–38) as a

Jackson Democrat Jacksonian democracy was a 19th-century political philosophy in the United States that expanded suffrage to most white men over the age of 21, and restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, And ...

, he purchased a newspaper in Columbus that became the ''Ohio Statesman'', which he edited until 1857. He was active at the National Democratic Conventions at

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in 1844, where he was instrumental in the nomination of

James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (183 ...

; and at

Cincinnati 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 1856, where he was the President pro tem. President James Buchanan appointed him as the third Territorial

Governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. ...

from April 23, 1857, to May 24, 1858. Minnesota became a state on May 11, 1858, and elected

Henry Hastings Sibley Henry Hastings Sibley (February 20, 1811 – February 18, 1891) was a North American fur trade, fur trader with the American Fur Company, the first United States House of Representatives, U.S. Congressional representative for Minnesota Territor ...

as the state's first governor. Samuel Medary was also Governor of Kansas Territory from December 1858 to December 1860. William F. Wheeler was territory Librarian and the Governor's Secretary while in office. Returning to Columbus, Ohio, he established a newspaper he named ''

The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Mi ...

''. While living in Columbus, Medary resided at his estate, Northwood Place, located along the Worthington Pike, now North High Street, near Northwood Avenue. Medary was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1864 for conspiracy against the government and was arrested. He was released on bond, but died in Columbus, Ohio before he could be tried.

Legacy

One of the first townsites in Dakota Territory is named after Medary. The town of

Medaryville, Indiana Medaryville is a town in White Post Township, Pulaski County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 614 at the 2010 census. Geography Medaryville is located at (41.080313, -86.888585). The Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area is ...

was also named after him. In North Columbus, Ohio (annexed to the city of Columbus in the late 1800s) a street dating back to the early 1900s Medary Avenue was named for him. Because Columbus Public Schools names its schools for the street on which they are located, Medary Elementary School also carried his surname. Medary was buried at

Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio Green Lawn Cemetery is a historic private rural cemetery located in Columbus, Ohio in the United States. Organized in 1848 and opened in 1849, the cemetery was the city's premier burying ground in the 1800s and beyond. An American Civil War memori ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medary, Samuel 1801 births 1864 deaths 19th-century American newspaper editors Burials at Green Lawn Cemetery (Columbus, Ohio) Governors of Kansas Territory Governors of Minnesota Territory Minnesota Democrats Members of the Ohio House of Representatives Ohio state senators Politicians from Columbus, Ohio Kansas Democrats American male journalists 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American politicians Journalists from Ohio People from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania People from Bethel, Ohio