#22 William Medill

William Medill

Born: February, 1802
Died: September 2, 1865
Political Party: Democrat
Term of Office: July 13, 1853 - January 14, 1856
Buried: Elmwood Cemetery Lancaster, Ohio
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  William Medill was born in Delaware in 1802 to Irish farmers. After graduating college he studied law and was admitted to the Delaware State bar in 1830. He later moved to Lancaster, Ohio and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1832.

   Medill entered politics in 1835 by being elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served 4 terms. He was picked by his colleagues to serve as Ohio's Speaker of the House in 1836 and again in 1837. In 1838, Medill was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served 2, 2 terms before being losing reelection to a 3rd term in 1842. In congress he became known as a strong Democrat who opposed the Bank of the United States.

   In 1845, President Polk appointed Medill to become Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He served in this position for 5 years and oversaw the department of Indian Affairs move from the War department to department of the Interior. In 1850, Ohio had it's Constitutional Convention. Medill was selected by his fellow delegates to serve as President of the Constitutional Convention. At the Convention the office of Lt. Governor was created. In the next election of 1851, Medill was elected Ohio's 1st Lt. Governor, serving under Governor Reuben Wood.

   In 1853, William Medill became Governor of Ohio when Governor Wood resigned to accept an appointment as Consul to Chile. Later that year, Medill won the Governorship in his own right and served another 2 years. As Governor, he suggested that the state privatize means of transportation like canals and turnpikes. Although nothing was ever done about this while he was in office. He lost reelection in 1855 to future Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Salmon P. Chase.

   In 1857, President Buchanan appointed Medill as 1st controller of the U.S. Treasury. He served in this position throughout Buchanan's 4 years in office. Medill opposed the Civil War, but in his retirement was to sick and weak to take as active roll in the opposition. He died in Lancaster, Ohio in 1865. Having never married.
 
      I visited the gravesite of William Medill on Memorial Day weekend 2010. My sister in law had a baby boy in the week or so leading up to Memorial Day weekend. So we went down to visit them in southern Ohio. On the way back I had maped out a few places to stop. I noticed that we would be driving through two cities that had a Governor gravesite a piece. The first one was Lancaster, Ohio and the gravesite of William Medill. It was easy to find. So I got a few pictures and then we were on our way. Before leaving Lancaster we stopped by the Birthplace of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. We then continued towards home, but not before we would stop in Delaware, and the gravesite of Governor Frank B. Willis. I somehow lost the pictures of this trip. 

   I revisted the gravesite of Governor Medill a few years later on the way home from one of our trips down to southern Ohio to visit my sister in laws family. And got these pictures.





Revisit to Medill's grave 

Governor Medill and I