Samuel Medary

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Samuel Medary
Samuel Medary

In office
April 23, 1857 – May 24, 1858
Preceded by Willis Arnold Gorman
Succeeded by Henry Hastings Sibley

Born February 25, 1801(1801-02-25)
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States
Died November 7, 1864 (aged 63)
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Political party Democratic
Profession newspaper owner

Samuel Medary (February 25, 1801November 7, 1864) Born and raised in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, he settled in Ohio in 1825. After a term in the Ohio legislature (1834) and state senate (1836-38) as a Jackson Democrat, he purchased a newspaper in Columbus that became the Ohio Statesman, which he edited until 1857. Active at the National Democratic Conventions at Baltimore in 1844, where he was instrumental in the nomination of James K. Polk; and at Cincinnati in 1856, where he was the President pro tem. President James Buchanan appointed him as the 3rd Territorial Governor of Minnesota from April 23, 1857 to May 24, 1858. Minnesota became a state on May 11, 1858 and elected Henry Hastings Sibley.

Samuel Medary was also Governor of Kansas Territory from December 1858 to December 1860. William F. Wheeler was territory Librarian and the Governor's Secretary while in office.

Returning to Ohio, he established a newspaper he named The Crisis. Medary was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1864 for conspiracy against the government and was arrested. He was released on bonds, but died in Columbus, Ohio before he could be tried.

One of the first townsites in Dakota Territory is named after Medary. The town of Medaryville, Indiana was also named after him.

Political offices
Preceded by
James W. Denver
Territorial Governor of Kansas
1858 – 1860
Succeeded by
Charles L. Robinson (state)
Preceded by
Willis A. Gorman
3rd Governor of Minnesota Territory
1857 – 1858
Succeeded by
Henry Hastings Sibley (state)
Languages