Benjamin Tappan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Benjamin Tappan | |
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| In office March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1845 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas Morris |
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| Succeeded by | Thomas Corwin |
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| Born | May 25, 1773 Northampton, Massachusetts |
| Died | April 20, 1857 (aged 83) Steubenville, Ohio |
| Political party | Democratic |
Benjamin Tappan (May 25, 1773 - April 20, 1857) was a Ohio judge and Democratic politician who served in the Ohio State Senate and the United States Senate. He was an early settler of the Connecticut Western Reserve in northeastern Ohio and was one of the first settlers in Portage County and the founder of the city of Ravenna, Ohio.[1]
Tappan was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, the second child and oldest son of Benjamin Tappan and Sarah (Homes) Tappan, who was a grandniece of Benjamin Franklin. Two of his younger brothers were abolitionists Arthur and Lewis Tappan. He attended the public schools in Northampton and traveled to the West Indies in his youth. He apprenticed as a printer and engraver, also studying painting with Gilbert Stuart. Studying law, he was admitted to the bar in Hartford, Connecticut. He moved to the Connecticut Western Reserve in 1799 and founded what is now Ravenna, Ohio, laying out the original village in 1808.[1]
He married, March 20, 1801, Nancy Wright, sister of John C. Wright, afterwards a Congressman from Ohio. They had one son, Benjamin, born in 1812.
Elected to the second Ohio State Senate, Tappan served from 1803-1804.
He moved to Steubenville, Jefferson County, in 1809 where he continued his law practice.
After serving in the War of 1812, Tappan held a number of local offices. He served as county judge, judge of the fifth Ohio Circuit Court of Common Pleas from 1816-1823, and United States district judge of Ohio in 1833. He was also a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1832.
His first wife having died, Benjamin married second, in 1823, Mrs. Betsy (Lord) Frazer, widow of Eliphalet Frazer. They had one son, Eli Todd Tappan, later president of Kenyon College.
He was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1838, in which he served from 1839-1845. As senator he served on the Committee on the Library and was chairmain of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses. Tappan was censured on May 10, 1844 for disclosing the terms of a secret message from President John Tyler detailing the possible terms of the annexation of Texas to the New York Evening Post.
Tappan died April 20, 1857 in Steubenville, and was interred in Union Cemetery.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Brown, R.C; Norris, J.E. (1885, 1972 revision). History of Portage County Ohio. Chicago, Illinois: Warner, Beers, and Company, pp. 521-522.
[edit] Sources
- Benjamin Tappan at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Daniel Langdon Tappan. Tappan-Toppan Genealogy, Arlington, Massachusetts, 1915, pp. 24-25.
- Brown, R. C. and Norris, J. E. History of Portage County Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, 1885, 1972 rev., pp. 521-522.
| Ohio Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Samuel H. Huntington |
Senator from Trumbull County 1803–1804 |
Succeeded by George Tod |
| United States Senate | ||
| Preceded by Thomas Morris |
United States Senator (Class 1) from Ohio 1839–1845 Served alongside: William Allen |
Succeeded by Thomas Corwin |
| Preceded by Jonathan Roberts |
Oldest living U.S. Senator July 24, 1854 – April 20, 1857 |
Succeeded by Littleton Waller Tazewell |
| Legal offices | ||
| New title | President Judge of the Ohio Court of Common Pleas 5th Judicial Circuit 1816–1823 |
Succeeded by Jeremiah H. Hallock |
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