Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Vinton, Samuel Finley

VINTON, Samuel Finley, congressman, b. in South Hadley, Mass., 25 Sept., 1792; d. in Washington, D.C., 11 May, 1862. He was graduated at Williams in 1814, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1816, and began to practise in Gallipolis, Ohio. He was chosen to congress as a Whig, serving from 1 Dec., 1823, till 3 March, 1837, was a presidential elector on the Harrison ticket, and served again in congress in 1843-'51. His last public service was in 1862, when he was appointed by President Lincoln to appraise the slaves that had been emancipated in the District of Columbia by act of congress. He published numerous congressional and other speeches, including “Argument for Defendants in the Case of Virginia vs. Garner and Others for an Alleged Abduction of Slaves” (1865). His daughter, Madeline, married Admiral John A. Dahlgren.