Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Key, Thomas Marshall

KEY, Thomas Marshall, lawyer, b. in Wash- ington, Ky., 8 Aug., 1819 ; d. in Lebanon, Ohio, 15 Jan., 1869. He was graduated at Yale in 1838, studied law, and settled in practice in Cincinnati, Ohio. For many years he served in the Ohio senate, where he had much influence. He at first opposed the civil war, but afterward actively supported the government, and was sent by Gov. William Dennison as a commissioner to Gov. Beriah Magoffin, of Kentucky, to persuade him not to aid the Confederates. He served upon the staff of Gen. McClellan, and after the war took an active part in Ohio politics. He was the author of the first congressional bill for the emancipation of slaves in any part of the United States, and wrote the bill for the emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia.