Samuel Finley Vinton | |
|---|---|
 sketch fromHistorical Collections of Ohio | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOhio | |
| In office March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1837 | |
| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | Calvary Morris |
| Constituency | 7th district (1823-1833) 6th district (1833-1837) |
| In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1851 | |
| Preceded by | Joshua Mathiot |
| Succeeded by | John Welch |
| Constituency | 12th district |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1792-09-25)September 25, 1792 |
| Died | May 11, 1862(1862-05-11) (aged 69) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Gallipolis, Ohio |
| Party | |
| Spouse | Romaine Madeleine Bureau |
| Children | 2, includingMadeleine |
| Alma mater | Williams College |
Samuel Finley Vinton (September 25, 1792 – May 11, 1862) was a member of theUnited States House of Representatives fromOhio from March 4, 1823 to March 3, 1837 and again from March 4, 1843 to March 3, 1851.
Born inSouth Hadley, Massachusetts, Vinton was the son of Abiatha and Sarah (Day) Vinton. He graduated fromWilliams College in 1814, paying his way through school by teaching. He studied law and was admitted to the bar inConnecticut in 1816. He then moved to southernOhio and practiced law inGallipolis. On August 18, 1824, he married Romaine Madeleine Bureau, daughter ofJohn Peter Roman Bureau and Madeleine Françoise Charlotte Marret, in Gallia County, Ohio.[1] She died in 1831, after the couple had had a son and a daughter,Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren.
After holding various local offices, he was elected to theEighteenth Congress on a non-partisan ballot. Vinton was re-elected to theNineteenth,Twentieth,Twenty-first,Twenty-second,Twenty Third andTwenty-fourth Congresses. In the Twenty-third Congress he was an Anti-JacksonianDemocrat and in the Twenty-fourth and succeeding Congresses he was aWhig.
He did not seek re-election in 1836, returning to Ohio to his successful practice of law. WhigPresidential elector in 1840 forHarrison/Tyler.[2] However, he returned to Congress in 1843, again as aWhig. In his second service in Congress, he was a member of theTwenty-eighth,Twenty-ninth,Thirtieth, andThirty-first Congresses. He was noted for his service on thePublic Lands Committee, helping to create theUnited States Department of the Interior, and, asThomas Ewing put it, had "more influence in the House of Representatives, much more, than any other man in it." He was an authority onparliamentary procedure and in the Thirtieth Congress, he declined the Speakership but took the chairmanship of theWays and Means Committee instead.
PresidentMillard Fillmore offered him the post ofSecretary of the Interior, but he declined. He did not run for re-election in 1850, instead running forGovernor of Ohio as a Whig in 1851. In 1853, he became president of theCleveland and Toledo Railroad, retiring the next year toWashington, D.C.
In 1862, PresidentAbraham Lincoln appointed him to appraise the value of slaves freed in theDistrict of Columbia. He died inWashington that year and was buried inGallipolis, Ohio.
He was a trustee ofOhio University from 1848 to 1862.[3]
His daughter,Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren was a writer. His son-in-law was AdmiralJohn A. Dahlgren.
Vinton County, Ohio andVinton, Ohio are named for him.[4]
Vinton.
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