Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Delano, Columbus

DELANO, Columbus, congressman, b. in Shoreham, Vt., 5 June, 1809; d. in Mount Vernon, Ohio, 23 Oct., 1896. He was educated at the common schools, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. He practised at Mount Vernon, and became eminent as an advocate and criminal lawyer. He was a delegate in 1860 to the National republican convention at Chicago which nominated Lincoln and Hamlin. He served as state commissary-general of Ohio in 1861, and was a member of the Ohio house of representatives in 1863, and was elected a member of congress from that state in 1844, 1864, and 1866. He was a delegate in 1864 to the National republican convention at Baltimore which nominated Lincoln and Johnson. On 5 March, 1869, he was appointed by President Grant commissioner of internal revenue, and while he held office reorganized the bureau, thereby increasing the receipts over 100 per cent in eight months. He succeeded Jacob D. Cox as secretary of the interior in October, 1870, a portfolio that he retained till 1875. Mr. Delano was for many years one of the trustees of Kenyon college, Ohio, which conferred on him the degree of LL. D., and in connection with which he has endowed a grammar school called Delano hall.