Samuel Finley Vinton (September 25, 1792 – May 11, 1862) was 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

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 ...

from March 4, 1823 to March 3, 1837 and again from March 4, 1843 to March 3, 1851.

Biography

Born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, Vinton was the son of Abiatha and Sarah (Day) Vinton. He graduated from

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

in 1814, paying his way through school by teaching. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

in 1816. He then moved to southern

and practiced law in Gallipolis. On August 18, 1824, he married Romaine Madeleine Bureau, daughter of John Peter Roman Bureau and Madeleine Françoise Charlotte Marret, in Gallia County, Ohio. She died in 1831, after the couple had had a son and a daughter,

Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren (pen names, Corinne and Cornelia; July 13, 1825 – May 28, 1898) was an American writer, translator, and anti-suffragist. Her volume, ''Idealities'' (Philadelphia, 1859) was her first work in book form. Thereafter, she f ...

. After holding various local offices, he was elected to the Eighteenth Congress on a non-partisan ballot. Vinton was re-elected to the Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty Third and Twenty-fourth Congresses. In the Twenty-third Congress he was an Anti-Jacksonian

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 ...

and in the Twenty-fourth and succeeding Congresses he was a Whig. He did not seek re-election in 1836, returning to Ohio to his successful practice of law. Whig

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 app ...

in 1840 for

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. However, he returned to Congress in 1843, again as a Whig. In his second service in Congress, he was a member of the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses. He was noted for his service on the Public Lands Committee, helping to create the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

, and, as

Thomas Ewing Thomas Ewing Sr. (December 28, 1789October 26, 1871) was a National Republican and Whig politician from Ohio. He served in the U.S. Senate as well as serving as the secretary of the treasury and the first secretary of the interior. He is als ...

put it, had "more influence in the House of Representatives, much more, than any other man in it." He was an authority on

parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense ...

and in the Thirtieth Congress, he declined the Speakership but took the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee instead. President

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...

offered him the post of Secretary of the Interior, but he declined. He did not run for re-election in 1850, instead running for Governor of Ohio as a Whig in 1851. In 1853, he became president of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad, retiring the next year 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, ...

In 1862, 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 ...

appointed him to appraise the value of slaves freed in the

District of Columbia ) , 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, ...

. He died in

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that year and was buried in

Gallipolis, Ohio Gallipolis ( ) is a chartered village in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Gallia County. The municipality is located in Southeast Ohio along the Ohio River about 55 miles southeast of Chillicothe and 44 miles northwest of Charlesto ...

. He was a trustee of

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

from 1848 to 1862.

Personal life

His daughter,

was a writer. His son-in-law was Admiral John A. Dahlgren.

Legacy

Vinton County, Ohio Vinton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,800, making it the least populous county in the state. Its county seat is McArthur. The county is named for Samuel Finley Vinton, US R ...

and

Vinton, Ohio Vinton is a village in Gallia County, Ohio, United States. The population was 222 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Point Pleasant, WV–OH Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Vinton was platted in 1832. A post office called Vint ...

are named for him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinton, Samuel Finley 1792 births 1862 deaths People from South Hadley, Massachusetts Ohio Democratic-Republicans Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Ohio National Republicans National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio 19th-century American politicians 1840 United States presidential electors Ohio lawyers Ohio University trustees Williams College alumni 19th-century American lawyers

Biography

Personal life

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links