'Samuel Medary' (
February 25,
1801 –
November 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.