Martin Welker

Martin Welker
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 14th district
In office March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1871
Preceded by	George Bliss
Succeeded by	James Monroe
4th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio
In office January 11, 1858 – January 9, 1860
Preceded by	Thomas H. Ford
Succeeded by	Robert C. Kirk
United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
In office November 25, 1873 – June 1, 1889
Appointed by	Ulysses S. Grant
Preceded by	Charles Taylor Sherman
Succeeded by	Augustus J. Ricks
Personal details
Born	April 25, 1819(1819-04-25) Knox County, Ohio
Died	March 15, 1902(1902-03-15) (aged 82) Wooster, Ohio
Resting place	Wooster Cemetery
Political party	Whig, Republican
Spouse(s)	Maria Armour Flora Uhl

Martin Welker (April 25, 1819 – March 15, 1902) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.

Biography

Born in Knox County, Ohio, Welker attended the common schools.

He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840, commencing practice at Millersburg, Ohio. He served as clerk of the Holmes County Court of Common Pleas from 1846 to 1851.

In 1848, Welker was the Whig nominee for the Congress, but lost in the largely Democratic district.^[1] In 1850, he again was offered the nomination, but declined it.^[1] In January, 1851, he re-entered private practice.^[1] He served as judge of the sixth district of the Ohio Courts of Appeal from 1852 to 1857. He moved to Wooster, Ohio, in 1857. He served as the fourth Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and President of the Ohio Senate in the Fifty-third General Assembly ^[2]in 1858 and 1859^[3] under Governor Salmon P. Chase. He declined to be a candidate for re-nomination in 1859.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, on May 14, 1861, Welker was appointed judge-advocate of the second brigade of the Ohio Volunteer Militia at rank of major, and served with General Jacob Dolson Cox.^[1] Welker was appointed as an aide-de-camp, with rank of colonel to the Governor of Ohio on August 10, 1861. He then served as Judge Advocate General of the State of Ohio for the balance of 1861, and was the superintendent of drafting under Governor Tod, commencing August 15, 1862. He served as assistant adjutant general in 1862. As the war waned, Welker enlisted on February 16, 1865 in the Union Army as a private in Company I, 188th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered out September 21, 1865.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1862 to the 38th Congress.^[4] Welker was elected as a Republican to the 39th,^[5] 40th,^[6] and 41st Congresses^[7] (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1871). He was not a candidate for renomination to the 42nd Congress in 1870.

President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Welker to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 1873. He served until 1889, when he retired.

He was a professor of political science and international law at Wooster College from 1873 to 1890. He then served as president of the Wooster National Bank and vice president of the Wayne County Fair Board, and member of the Grand Army of the Republic.^[1] He died on March 15, 1902, in Wooster and is interred at Wooster Cemetery.

Welker married Maria Armour of Millersburg March 4, 1841. After she died, he married Flora Uhl of Cleveland January 16, 1896.^[8]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Smith 1898 Volume II : 329
2. ^ Ohio 1917 : 239
3. ^ 1857 election: Welker 160,751 William H. Lytle 158,826 from Smith 1898 Volume I : 74
4. ^ 1862 Fourteenth District George Bliss 10,490 Welker 10,454 Smith 1898 Volume I : 151
5. ^ 1864 Fourteenth District Welker 12,844 George Bliss 10,312 Smith 1898 Volume I : 196
6. ^ 1866 Fourteenth District Welker 13,494 James B. Young 11,787 Smith 1898 Volume I : 229
7. ^ 1868 Fourteenth District Welker 13,575 Lyman R. Critchfield 13,113 Smith 1898 Volume I : 259
8. ^ Reed 1897 : 225-228

• Martin Welker at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-10-18

References

• Ohio General Assembly (1917). Manual of legislative practice in the General Assembly. State of Ohio. http://books.google.com/books?id=7qesAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA239. 
• Smith, Joseph P, ed (1898). History of the Republican Party in Ohio. I. Chicago: the Lewis Publishing Company. http://books.google.com/books?id=eaAFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA151. 
• Smith, Joseph P, ed (1898). History of the Republican Party in Ohio. II. Chicago: the Lewis Publishing Company. http://books.google.com/books?id=Wmpxad1cZsAC&pg=PA329. 
• Reed, George Irving; Randall, Emilius Oviatt; Greve, Charles Theodore, eds (1897). Bench and Bar of Ohio: a Compendium of History and Biography. 1. Chicago: Century Publishing and Engraving Company. http://books.google.com/books?id=4gQ9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA225. 

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Persondata
Name	Welker, Martin
Alternative names
Short description	Union Army soldier
Date of birth	April 25, 1819
Place of birth	Knox County, Ohio
Date of death	March 15, 1902
Place of death	Wooster, Ohio