Benjamin M. Samuels 1823-1863

SAMUELS

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 2/7/2020 at 17:16:56

The Miner's Express, Wednesday, Feb 27, 1850, Dubuque, IA Page: 2

BEN. M. SAMUELS
ATTORNEY AT LAW, DUBUQUE, IOWA
BUSINESS entrusted to his care will meet with prompt and faithful attention.
Office, No. 1, Globe Building, corner of Main and Fifth Streets.

Dubuque, Feb. 20, 1850
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Dubuque [Iowa] Daily Times, Tues. morning, Aug. 18, 1863, p. 1

DEATH OF BEN M. SAMUELS---The death of this prominent citizen occurred at two o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 16 inst.
Ben. M. Samuels was born in Parkersburg, Wood County, Virginia, on the 21st of December, 1823. He entered Lexington College in the same State, from which he graduated with the honors of his class in three years thereafter. He immediately commenced the study of law with Judge Samuels, in Woodstock, and was admitted to practice at the bar in 1844. He emigrated to Iowa in the fall of 1847, and commenced the practice of his profession in Dubuque. He soon gained a reputation for ability and eloquence, and his practice became very extensive. He became noted as an advocate, and the defence [sic] of the most important criminal trials in the county was entrusted to him. In 1855 he entered the political arena, having for years been a Democrat, and was elected member of the Legislature. About this time he also served as a member of the Common Council of this city. He soon became a prominent leader of the Democratic party in Iowa. His brilliant oratory, his noble looking person, and his genial social manners, won for him a popularity that has been enjoyed by but few of his party in this State, and in 1857 he was unanimously nominated for Governor of the State by a Democratic Convention.

The year before, the Republican party had triumphed in the State with over seven thousand majority; consequently his prospects of success were discouraging. But his sanguine mind thought his election possible, and he entered the campaign with a brave front. His form was tall, his person well shaped, and his appearance on the platform imposing. He possessed a splendid voice for either forensic debate or political speaking. He had a remarkable command of language. His manner was deliberate at first, but as he warmed with his subject, he became impassioned, his gestures vehement, yet always graceful, every word came out clear and full, (he never paused for one,) and he delighted to beautiful similes and illustrations. Of course, with all these qualifications, his name went before him, and wherever he was announced to address the people, crowds flocked to hear him. His election to the gubernatorial seat was a moral impossibility, yet he secured many votes which would have been given to his opponent had he not run, and he came nearer being elected than any other man in his party to a State office since the Republicans came into power. He at that time probably gained the reputation of being the most eloquent stump speaker in the State.

A United States Senator was to be chosen at the following session of the Legislature, and Mr. Samuels received the vote of his party in the Legislature for the office.

In 1860 Mr. Samuels was selected as one of the delegates to the Charleston Convention, and was, we believe, the Chairman of the Iowa delegation. The excitement in the convention ran high. Eloquent speeches were made, but none were more eloquent than the one made when he introduced the only pacifying resolution which received any attention in the body. He attracked [sic] the attention of the delegates, and the New England men invited him to go with them and address their constituents. He did so and spoke to Fannueil Hall and in Portland to immense audiences. Here he reached his culminating point. From these days may be dated the commencement of his wane. He attended the Baltimore Convention, stood by Douglas there, and stood by him throughout the campaign of 1860.

In 1860 also he received the nomination of his party for Congress. Of course he knew defeat was inevitable under the circumstances, and he did not make any great efforts to avert it.

Time passed on until some eighteen months ago, when his health began to decline. Consumption, the destroyer of his family, seized him, and ultimately carried him to his grave. Yesterday afternoon he was buried. A large concourse of people assembled inside and in front of his residence on Iowa street, and listened with great interest to the remarks which Rev. Geo. W. Brindle, his spiritual adviser during his approach to the tomb, had to make concerning him. A long train of friends followed him with the solemn music of a band, to his resting place.
He had his faults. He also had a great heart. He was magnanimous to every body but himself. He did not agree with the Union men on the war question. But he also had a thorough contempt for northern-born people who did not sympathize with the Federal Government. He once told the writer that if Virginia had only remained in the Union--"would to God that she had," he said--"he would have advocated the cause with his whole soul; but as it is," said he, "I despise the Northern men who wish the South success. I find that they are either political demagogues or inbred aristocrats and tyrants."
But Ben M. Samuels sleeps in his grave. There let his body rest--may his many virtues carry his soul to heaven.