Wilson SHANNON, Congress, OH (1802-1877)
SHANNON, Wilson, (brother of Thomas Shannon), a Representative from Ohio; born at Mount Olivet, Belmont County, Ohio, February 24, 1802; attended Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 1820-1822 and Transylvania College, Lexington, Ky., in 1823; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1830 and began practice in St. Clairsville, Ohio; unsuccessful candidate for election in 1832 to the Twenty-third Congress; prosecuting attorney for Belmont County 1833-1835; State prosecuting attorney in 1835; Governor of Ohio 1838-1840; unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1840; again Governor of Ohio 1842-1844; unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 1842; United States Minister to Mexico in 1844 and 1845; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress (March 4, 1853-March 3, 1855); was not a candidate for renomination in 1854; Governor of Kansas Territory in 1855 and 1856; engaged in the practice of law in Lawrence, Kans., where he died August 30, 1877; interment in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Bibliography
Day, Donald Eugene. âA Life of Wilson Shannon, Governor of Ohio, Diplomat, Territorial Governor of Kansas.â Ph.D. diss., Ohio State University, 1978.Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
