V: Van Dyke through Vinton

See below for annotated biographies of anti-slavery Whigs. Source: Scribner’s Dictionary of American Biography; Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography.

VAN DYKE, John, jurist, born in Lamington, New Jersey, 3 April. 1807; died in Wabasha, Minnesota, 24 December, 1878. He was elected to Congress in 1847 and served two terms, during which his course was marked by bitter opposition to slavery. In politics he was a Whig, and afterward one of the founders of the Republican Party in New Jersey.

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 246:

VAN DYKE, John, jurist, born in Lamington, New Jersey, 3 April. 1807; died in Wabasha, Minnesota, 24 December, 1878. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1830, and immediately rose to prominence in the Suydam-Robinson murder trial. He held many offices of trust and was the first president of the Bank of New Jersey at New Brunswick. He was elected to Congress in 1847 and served two terms, during which his course was marked by bitter opposition to slavery. In politics he was a Whig, and afterward one of the founders of the Republican Party in New Jersey. In 1859 he became one of the state supreme court judges, which post he held until 1866. Two years later he went to Minnesota, and was there, by special appointment, judge of the 3d judicial district. He published some anti-slavery pamphlets and contributed to magazines. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 246.



VAN RENSSELAER, Henry, soldier, born in Albany, New York, in 1810; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, 23 March, 1864. He was a member of Congress in 1841-'3, having been elected as a Whig.

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography:

VAN RENSSLAER, Henry, soldier, born in Albany, New York, in 1810; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, 23 March, 1864, was graduated at the U. S. Military Academy in 1831, but resigned from the army the next year and engaged in farming near Ogdensburg, New York. He was a member of Congress in 1841-'3, having been chosen as a Whig, and in 1855-'60 was president of mining companies. At the beginning of the Civil War he was appointed chief-of-staff to General Winfield Scott, with the rank of brigadier-general, and he became inspector-general with the rank of colonel on the retirement of General Scott, served in the Department of the Rappahannock in April and August, 1862. subsequently in the 3d Army Corps, and in the Department of the Ohio from 17 September until his death. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 252.



VINTON, Samuel Finley, 1792-1862, South Hadley, Massachusetts, Whig U.S. Congressman, attorney. He opposed the annexation of Texas, and opposed a direct tax for the prosecution of the war with Mexico. Vinton was the unsuccessful Whig candidate for election as governor of Ohio in 1851. Aided President Lincoln in the process of emancipating slaves in the District of Columbia by Congress.

(Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 303; Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Vol. 10, Pt. 1, p. 284)

Biography from Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 303:

VINTON, Samuel Finley, congressman, born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, 25 September, 1792; died in Washington, D. C., 11 May, 1862. He was graduated at Williams in 1814, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1816, and began to practise in Gallipolis, Ohio. He was chosen to Congress as a Whig, serving from 1 December, 1823, till 3 March, 1837, was a presidential elector on the Harrison ticket, and served again in Congress in 1843-'51. His last public service was in 1862, when he was appointed by President Lincoln to appraise the slaves that had been emancipated in the District of Columbia by act of Congress. He published numerous congressional and other speeches, including “Argument for Defendants in the Case of Virginia vs. Garner and Others for an Alleged Abduction of Slaves” (1865). His daughter, Madeleine, married Admiral John A. Dahlgren. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1888, Vol. VI, p. 303.

Dictionary of American Biography, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936, Volume 10, Pt. 1, pp. 284-285:

VINTON, SAMUEL FINLEY (September 25, 1792-May 11, 1862), lawyer and congressman, a descendant of John Vinton whose name appears in the records of Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1648, and the eldest of seven children of Abiathar and Sarah (Day) Vinton, was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts. His father was a farmer; his grandfather, also named Abiathar, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Young Vinton prepared for college with the aid of his local pastor, entered Williams in 1808, taught school at intervals to meet expenses, and graduated with the class of 1814. He read law under the direction of Stephen Titus Hosmer, subsequently chief justice of the supreme court of Connecticut, was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1816, and a few months later commenced practice in Gallipolis, Ohio, a village of French emigres. Here, in 1824, he married Romaine Madeleine Bureau, who died in 1831, having borne him two children. He rose rapidly in public esteem as an advocate. In 1822 he was elected to Congress and continued to serve until March 3, 1837. At this time he had declined to be a candidate for reelection, but in 1842 he yielded to the demands of the Whigs, and served again as congressman from 1843 to 1851. He was at various times a member of the committees on public lands, roads and canals, and the judiciary; he was made chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means during the war with Mexico, after he had declined the nomination for speaker of the House.

Vinton's first speech in Congress, in May 1824, was on a resolution which he offered with a view to the protection of the lives of passengers on steamboats navigating the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. As a remedy for the unprofitable management of the school lands in Ohio, he introduced and successfully promoted the passage of a bill to authorize that state to sell those lands and invest the proceeds in a trust fund, a precedent which was subsequently followed in other states. When in February 1828 a bill for the appropriation of funds for the Indian service, and particularly for the removal of Indians from lands east of the Mississippi to a reservation west of that river, was before Congress, Vinton, for the purpose of preventing any disadvantage to either slave states or free states, moved and made a memorable speech in support of an amendment which provided that no Indians living north of 36° 30' should be aided in removing south of that line, nor any Indians living south of it be aided in removing north of it. Vinton spoke frequently, but usually briefly and effectively, on such subjects as the survey and sale of public lands so as to prevent speculation, the Cumberland Road and other internal improvements, the tariff (favoring protection), and the apportionment of representatives. He opposed the annexation of Texas, and opposed a direct tax for the prosecution of the war with Mexico. On February 12, 1849, he reported from the Committee of Ways and Means the bill providing for the establishment of the Department of the Interior, which became a law nineteen days later. Vinton was the unsuccessful Whig candidate for election as governor of Ohio in 1851. He served for one year, 1853-54, as president of the Cleveland & Toledo Railroad, and then returned permanently to Washington, D. C. In April 1862 he was appointed by President Lincoln as one of three commissioners to appraise emancipated slaves within the District, but he died less than a month later. Sarah Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren [q.v.] was his daughter.

[J. A. Vinton, The Vinton Memorial (1858); (S.) M. V. Dahlgren, "Samuel Finley Vinton, a Biographical Sketch," Ohio Archeology and Historical Society Publications, volume IV (1895); "Memoir of the Hon. Samuel F. Vinton," American Review, September 1848; Calvin Durfee, Williams Biographical Annals (1871); Biographical Directory American Congress (1928); Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D. C.), May 12, 1862.]

N.D.M.

Sources:
Dictionary of American Biography, Volumes I-X, Edited by Dumas Malone, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930.

Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volumes I-VI, Edited by James Grant Wilson & John Fiske, New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1888-1889.