Kirkwood, Samuel Jordan

Life Span
to
    Full name
    Samuel Jordan Kirkwood
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Slave State
    Occupation
    Politician
    Attorney or Judge
    Businessman
    Educator
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Republican
    Government
    US Senate
    Governor
    State legislature
    Local government

    Samuel Jordan Kirkwood (Congressional Biographical Dictionary)

    Reference
    KIRKWOOD, Samuel Jordan, a Senator from Iowa; born in Harford County, Md., December 20, 1813; attended country schools and the academy of John McLeod in Washington, D.C.; clerked in a drug store and taught school; moved to Mansfield, Richmond County, Ohio, in 1835 and continued teaching until 1840; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1843 and commenced practice in Mansfield; prosecuting attorney of Richland County 1845-1849; member of the State constitutional convention in 1850 and 1851; moved to Coralville, Johnson County, Iowa, in 1855 and engaged in the milling business; member, State senate 1856-1859; Governor of Iowa 1860-1864; appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Minister to Denmark in 1863, but declined; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Harlan and served from January 13, 1866, to March 3, 1867; resumed the practice of law and also served as president of the Iowa & Southwestern Railroad Co.; Governor of Iowa 1876-1877, when he resigned to become United States Senator, serving as a Republican from March 4, 1877, to March 7, 1881, when he resigned to accept a Cabinet portfolio; Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President James Garfield 1881-1882, when, upon the death of President Garfield, he resigned; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1886 to the Fiftieth Congress; resumed the practice of law; president of the Iowa City National Bank; died in Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa, September 1, 1894; interment in Oakland Cemetery.
    “Kirkwood, Samuel Jordan,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000242.
    How to Cite This Page: "Kirkwood, Samuel Jordan," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/6039.