Samuel Fenton Cary

Samuel Fenton Cary

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 2nd district
In office November 21, 1867–March 3, 1869
Preceded by	Rutherford B. Hayes
Succeeded by	Job E. Stevenson

Born	February 18, 1814 Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Died	September 29, 1900 College Hill, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Political party	Independent Republican, Greenback
Spouse	Lida Stillwell Cary
Profession	Politician, Lawyer, Farmer

Samuel Fenton Cary, Sr. (February 18, 1814 – September 29, 1900) was a congressman and significant temperance movement leader in the nineteenth century. Cary became well-known nationally as a prohibitionist author and lecturer.

Cary was born on February 18, 1814 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Miami University in 1835 and at the Cincinnati Law School in 1837 being admitted to the bar the same year, practicing law out of his in office in Cincinnati. He was elected judge of the Ohio State Supreme Court, but decided to pass the job up. Instead, he got the post of Paymaster General for the state of Ohio during the terms of Governors Mordecai Bartley and William Bebb.

He stopped working in law in 1845 to become a farmer and also to devote himself to temperance and anti-slavery groups. He gave lectures and wrote books on prohibition and slavery matters. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1864 supporting Abraham Lincoln for a second term who initially had won. Cary then became Collector of Internal Revenue for Ohio's first district in 1865.

In 1867, Cary was elected to the Fortieth Congress as an Independent Republican to represent Ohio's second district, taking seat November 21, 1867. This was caused by the resignation of future United States President Rutherford B. Hayes who had just been elected Governor of Ohio. There, he became the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor. Cary had also been the only Republican to vote against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. He lost the election to the Forty-first Congress in 1868 to Job E. Stevenson.

In 1875, Cary ran for Lieutenant Governor of Ohio. At the time, Rutherford B. Hayes was running for a second term as Governor which he won. However, Cary lost his race to Thomas L. Young who would succeed to the governorship after Hayes resigned to become President of the United States.

Cary joined the Greenback Party and was the nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 1876 election. He ran with Peter Cooper who was running for the presidency against Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes won the presidency along with his running mate, William A. Wheeler. Cooper and Cary also came behind the Democratic Party candidates Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks.

Cary lived out the rest of his days writing literature and supporting fellow prohibitionists. He married Lida Stillwell. They had two children, Samuel Fenton, Jr. (b. 1857) and Jessie (b. 1858). He died at the Cary Homestead in College Hill, Cincinnati, Ohio on September 29, 1900. He is interred with his family in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Cary, North Carolina was named in his honor.

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Preceded by Rutherford B. Hayes	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 2nd congressional district November 21, 1867 – March 3, 1869	Succeeded by Job E. Stevenson
Preceded by (none)	Greenback Party vice presidential candidate 1876 (lost)	Succeeded by Benjamin J. Chambers