Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-10-18

| OuifCicitN W ullc uc ctutlCc ldW VII
W his brothers, and in 1926 comes back to 81
N Clairsville for admission and practice. SUI
rounded by able lawyers, his diligence 500
y secured him profitable practice, and then
o married daughter of E. Ellis, Esq, Cler
1t of the Court, and this allied him to famil,
. powerful both at the bar and in political cir
cles. Mr.. Ellis was the father of i've beauti
full daughters, the eldest of whom had marriet
= William KennOn, ST., for many years Judge o
a Common Pleas, member of Congress iron
1884 to 1886, member of the constitutional
Convention of Ohio in 1850, commissions
to revise the code, and then for years on thu
Supreme bench of Ohio; one of the best law
, yers and purest men of his time. The second
: in years married Wilson Shannon, but lived
only few years after her marriage. She left
a son, named for his uncle James, but before
: he reached manhood they laid him away to rest,
} in the Methodist cemetery at st. Clairsville.-
The next in age married George w. Many
penny, who became leading Ohio politician,
and at the time of the organization of the Ter
ritory Of Kansas was Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, while Wilson Shannon represented the
Belmont district in Congress, and William
kennon was Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of Ohio. The fourth daughter married
Hugh J. Jewett, for many years leading law
yer at GAINESVILLE, later member of Congress
from the Columbus district, and now Presi-
dent of the New York & Erie Railway. The
youngest daughter married Isaac E. Eaton,
Esq, a respected and well-knOwn citizen of
| Kansas, and now resides at LeaveIworth.
In the fall of 1889, Wilson Shannon had be-
come so well known as an able and popular
young lawyer. that the Democrats nominated
him for Congress. His opponent was that vet
/ eran Whig politician, and renowned lawyer.
Gen. James III. Bell, of Cambridge, Guernsey
county. The district was strongly Wing, but
Shannon entered on the canvass with deter
mnation to win. 1t was the fall of q Presi-
DENTAL election, and the contest was an exciting
one. Shannon was then in his thirty first
| year, and in all the vigor of his manhood
| Young, eloquent, vigorous, and ambitious, he
made manly and courageous fight, but Ger.
Bell was elected by thirty seven majority
He was beaten, but his race and canvass 80 re-
duced the Wing majority, that two years there
after bis brother-in- law, William kennOn, was
elected by small majority. The Legislature
of 1882 changed the law SO as to provide that
county prosecuting attorneys should be elected
by the people, instead of being appointed by
| the court, and there being much Confusion In
the affairs of Belmont county, Shannon was
urged by great many influential citizens to
become candidate for that Office. Politically, 1
the county was very close, and a second de-
feat at the polls was considered by Shannon's
friends to be very disastrous to his future pros
poets; but when he was placed in nomination
for that position by Democratic convention,
he promptly accepted, considering it duty to
make the race The opposition candidate was
MIR. McAS Jon, a very reputable man, and
lawyer of greater experience than Shannon
AT the election, Shannon had majority of
twelve hundred and sixty five votes the largest
ever given in the county, at that time, 10 q
candidate; and so faithfully did he discharge
his dutiaS that for he suacpa6in nU term 10 was
elected without opposition. After the death
of his first wife, he married Miss Sarah Os-
bun, of Cadiz, Harrison county, and this de-
voted woman still lives to honor the memory
Of the good, kind husband, the indulgent and
devoted father, and to witness the sorrow with
which State deplores the loss of its greatest
and best citizen. During all these years the
conduct of Wilson Shannon was such that the
young Democrats throughout the State began
to regard him as their leader, and when the
Democratic clans mustered il Columbus in the
summer of 1888, the young lawyer from Bel |
mont was made their candidate for Governor.
The Wings renominated ''honest old Joe |
Vance" who was then serving term as Chief |
Magistrate of the State. that he had wrested |
from one of the most popular of the older |
Democratic leaders. When the second Tues |
day of October came, Wilson Shannon receiv- |
ed a majority of the votes cast, and the boy |
born in the Territory was declared elected |
Governor of the State, the first native Cover
nor. You all know how triumphant the Wings |
were in 1910, and how Tom Corwin displaced |
Shannon by a popular majority that had never
been equalled in the State; and two years later,
the table turned, and the Democrats tranSposed |
the words, and sung: -is
''Wilson Shannon gave tanning
To Tom, the Wagner Boy"
This election also resulted in Democratic
majority on joint ballot liz the Legislature, thus
securing to them a United States Senator for
six years longer. William Allen was the in
cumbent, and his enemies were determined to
defeat his reelection, and for this purpose
pitted against him several of the strongest
men in different parts of the State, hoping at
the proper time to concentrate on some one
who could be successful Gov. Shannon took
no part in this fight, content with his re-eiec-
ton, but the opposition to Allen finally adopt
ed him as their candidate, and without effort
on his part, they lacked but one vote to make
him Senator. Had they succeeded, the cur
lent of his after-life would have been changed,
and flowed into chanrel that might have
borne him into the highest places in the Gov
ernment This defeat was fol years the source
of sorrow to his friends but if he ever felt the
pangs of disappointed ambition, which L do
not believe, no one ever heard him mumur
against Fate.
On the 9th day of April, 1874, President
Tyler commissioned him as Minister to Mexi-
co. This position he accepted, and held until
Nav Ia, 1S45, when diplomatic intercourse
was suspended, and he demanded his pass
ports. During his occupancy of this mission
he had discussion on some diplomatic ques-
ton with John G. Calhoun, then Secretary of
State, that attracted great attention throughout
tha him additional !
tion.
On his return from Mexico, he removed to
Cincinnati, and once more entered upon the 1
practice of the law but he soon became dis
satisfied with his location, and returned to st.
Clairsville, where he remained until 1S49 in I
The meantime refusing place on the Bench,
IS he had done once before, and did once after
wards.
In 1s49, he became excited over the dis /,
covery of gold in California, and determining
TO go there, he equipped a number of poor
young men for mining, and paid their expenses
70 San Francisco, with the understanding that
hey were to repay him out of their earnings.
It proved a very disastrous financial expert
ence to him, as he, as well as they, reached the
and of gold without cent. Releasing the c
young men from their engagement, each went t
% work for himself, and in two years he re- c
urned to Ohio with about the same amount of G
money he possessed before he started. Some
If the young meE afterwards acquired hand /
'ome fortunes; and one, Matthew P. Deadly, r
United States District Judge for Oregon, has !
attained national reputation as a jurist.
In the fall of 1859, just twenty years after :,
lis first defeat for any public position, Gov.
shannon was elected to Congress from the dis !
rict composed of Belmont, Guernsey, Mon >
oe and Noble counties, by one thousand ma Q
ority. In (ongress he was placed third on '
he Committee on Foreign Affairs, and was Q
egarded as one of the strong men of the 9
House. He voted for the Kansas Nebraska
,ill, and did not seek reelection. Shortly C
lfter the expiration Of his Congressional term, a
lie was appointed as Governor of the Territory
If Kansas, and after his removal from that Of !
ice, he resumed the practice of law, and for :
Wenty years has been recognized as the first