Vespasian Warner (April 23, 1842 – March 31, 1925) was a
U.S. Representative
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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
.
Biography
Born in Mount Pleasant (now Farmer City),
De Witt County, Illinois
DeWitt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,561. Its county seat is Clinton. The county was formed on March 1, 1839, from Macon and McLean counties. The county was named in ho ...
, Warner moved with his parents to
Clinton, Illinois
Clinton is the largest city in DeWitt County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,225 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of DeWitt County.
The city and the county are named for DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York, 1817–1823 ...
, in 1843.
He attended public schools in Clinton, and
Lombard College
Lombard College was a Universalist college located in Galesburg, Illinois.
History
Lombard College was founded in 1853 by the Universalist Church as the Illinois Liberal Institute. In 1855, however, a major fire damaged much of the college, p ...
in
Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical ...
.
He also studied law in Clinton.
Enlisted as a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
in Company E,
12th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, June 13, 1861.
He was promoted to
sergeant June 23, 1861,
second lieutenant February 4, 1862,
captain and
commissary
A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop.
In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...
of subsistence February 10, 1865.
He was
brevetted major March 13, 1865, and was mustered out July 13, 1866.
After his military service, he enrolled in the
law department of Harvard University, graduating in 1868. He returned to Illinois the same year to practice law in his hometown of Clinton, Illinois. His law partner was his father-in-law, Clifton H. Moore.
Warner was elected as a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
to the
Fifty-fourth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1905).
He served as chairman of the Committee on Revision of the Laws (
Fifty-fifth through
Fifty-eighth Congresses).
In 1904, Warner ran for
Governor of Illinois
The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...
as a Republican, but he failed to win his party's nomination. The Republican nominee
Charles S. Deneen
Charles Samuel Deneen (May 4, 1863 – February 5, 1940) was an American lawyer and Republican politician who served as the 23rd Governor of Illinois, from 1905 to 1913. He was the first Illinois governor to serve two consecutive terms totalli ...
won the general election. After the election, President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
nominated Warner for the job of United States Commissioner of Pensions, heading an agency within the
Department of the Interior which was roughly equivalent to today's
Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
. Warner served from March 4, 1905 until November 25, 1909.
He engaged in business in Clinton, Illinois, as a banker and realty owner and agent. He died in Clinton on March 31, 1925. He was interred in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Vespasian Warner Public Library District
Warner's father-in-law, Clifton H. Moore, was an avid book collector. When Moore died in 1901, he left his collection of books to the city of Clinton, provided a proper library could be constructed to house it. In 1906, Warner donated $25,000 and a plot of land to the city for a
public library. The Vespasian Warner Public Library opened to the public in 1908 and continues operation to this day.
References
Vespasian Warner Public Library District ''Our History'' http://www.vwarner.org/about-us
External links
*
Vespasian Warner Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warner, Vespasian
1842 births
1925 deaths
Union Army officers
Harvard Law School alumni
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois
People from Farmer City, Illinois
People from Clinton, Illinois
Military personnel from Illinois