History of Mount Vernon, (Knox County) Ohio United States of America

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Biographies:

Columbus Delano, statesman, was born at Shoreham, Vt., June 5, 1809; son of James and Lucinda (Bateman) Delano. In 1817 he settled in Knox county, Ohio, where his boyhood was passed on a farm. He was left without a natural protector in 1819, and went to Lexington, Ohio, where he worked in a woolen mill. He entered the law office of Homer Curtis at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, in 1828; was admitted to the bar in 1831, and began practice in that town. He was prosecuting attorney for the state, 1826-30, in a county adverse to his political views. He was a Whig representative from the tenth Ohio district in the 29th congress, 1845-47, the Democratic candidate for governor carrying the district at the same election by a majority of 800. In May, 1846, he voted with John Quincy Adams and twelve other representatives against the famous declaration that "war exists by an act of Mexico," and subsequently he defended his vote in an able speech upon which Mr. Adams remarked, "There should not be in it a 't' crossed or an 'i' dotted." In 1848 his name was proposed before the Whig state convention for the nomination as governor of Ohio, but he was defeated in convention by two votes. In 1850, having retired from the bar, he removed to New York city and became a member of the banking house of Delano, Dunlevy & Co., and after five years of successful business life he returned to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and engaged in general business and agriculture. In 1860 he was chosen a delegate to the Chicago convention, and seconded the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. In 1861 he was appointed commissary-general of the state of Ohio. In 1862 he was defeated in his candidacy for U.S. senator, receiving two votes less than were given to Benjamin Wade. In 1863 he was elected a representative in the 56th general assembly of Ohio, and in 1864 he was chairman of the Ohio delegation of the national convention at Baltimore, Md. which renominated Mr. Lincoln. He was a representative from the thirteenth Ohio district in the 89th congress, 1865-67, where he served as chairman of the committee on claims. He was a delegate to the Loyalists' convention at Philadelphia, in 1866. He successfully contested the scat of George W. Morgan in 1867 in the 40th congress, and served on the committee on foreign relations, and at the expiration of the term, refused to be again a candidate. As a representative, Mr. Delano was an advocate of a tariff for revenue only. He strongly opposed the claims of railroad companies for land grants and government subsidies. To his speech of July 24, 1866, was given the credit of carrying the tariff bill of that session against what had been conceded the sense of the U.S. house of representatives. He was commissioner of internal revenue, 1869-70, and proved himself competent to contend successfully with the powerful whiskey ring then in existence. In 1870 President Grant appointed him secretary of the interior. He resigned the portfolio in 1875 for the purpose of resuming his farming interests at Lakehome, his country residence near Mt. Vernon, Ohio. He was a trustee of Kenyon college and received from that institution the honorary degree of LL.D. He endowed Delano Hall, a grammar school connected with the college. He died at Mount Vernon, Ohio, Oct. 23, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William C. Cooper, representative, was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Dec. 18, 1832. He attended Mt. Vernon academy and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He was prosecuting attorney of Knox county, 1859-62, and mayor of the city of Mt. Vernon, 1862-64. He was a member of the house of representatives of Ohio, 1872-74, and judge-advocate-general of the state 1879-84. He was a Republican representative from the 9th Ohio district in the 49th, 50th and 51st congresses, 1885-91.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Frank Hunt Hurd, representative, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Dec. 25, 1841. He was graduated at Kenyon college in 1858, and became a lawyer in Toledo, Ohio. He was prosecuting attorney for Lucas county in 1863; state senator, 1866-68; representative in the 44th congress, 1875-77; defeated for representative in the 45th congress by Jacob D. Cox, Republican; elected a representative in the 46th congress 1877-79; defeated for representative in the 47th congress by James M. Ritchie; elected a representative in the 48th congress, 1883-85, and defeated for representative in the 50th congress by Jacob Romeis. He was a prominent advocate of tariff reform. He codified Criminal Laws of Ohio (1868). He died in Toledo, Ohio, July 10, 1896.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Daniel Sheldon Norton, senator, was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, April 12, 1829; son of Daniel Sheldon and Sarah (Banning) Norton, and grandson of Anthony Banning of Knox county, Ohio. His father was a native of At-takapas, La., where his family were among the first English-speaking settlers. He matriculated at Kenyon college with the class of 1846, but left before graduating, and served in the 2d Ohio regiment in the war with Mexico, He studied law under his brother-in-law, Judge Rollin C. Hurd, in Mt. Vernon; visited California and Nicaragua in 1850-52, was admitted to the bar in 1852, and practised in Mt. Vernon until 1855, when he removed to Minnesota Territory, and settled in Winona. On the adoption of the state constitution, Oct. 13, 1857, he was elected a state senator, and served in the first legislature, 1857-58, in the third, 1861, and in the sixth, 1863, and seventh 1864 and 1865. He was elected in 1865 by the Republican legislature to the U.S. senate, his term to expire March 3, 1871, and William Windom and O. P. Stearns completed his term. He was a conservative Republican, and on national questions voted generally with the Democrats. He died in Washington, D.C., July 14, 1870.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor