FRANKLIN COUNTY OHIO - BIOS: THURMAN, Allen G. (published 1880)
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Historical Collections of Ohio
By Henry Howe LL.D.

ALLEN G. THURMAN

Allen G. Thurman was born the son of a clergyman,  Rev. P. Thurman,  in
Lynchburg, Virginia,  November 13,  1813. The next year the family
removed to Chillicothe.  He was educated at the Chillicothe Academy, 
and studied law with his uncle,  William Allen,  later Governor,  and
Noah H. Swayne,  afterwards Judge of the United States Supreme Court. 
In 1835 he began the practice at Chillicothe.  In 1844,  he was married
to Mary Dun,  of Kentucky,  and also elected to Congress.  In 1851 he
was elected a judge of the Superior Court of Ohio;  and from 1854 to
1856,  the date of the expiration of his term,  was chief justice.  The
"Ohio Reports,"  containing his decisions gave him a wide reputation as
a lawyer and jurist.  In 1853,  he removed to Columbus,  and on leaving
the bench resumed his law practice.  "His opinions on important legal
questions were much sought after and relied upon by the bar all over the
State,  and he was retained as counsel in the supreme court in many of
the most important cases.  He has always been a laborious student; 
indefatigably in the preparation of his cases,  and a forcible and
direct speaker,  who wastes no time on immaterial points."

In 1868 he was first elected to the United States Senate,  and was a
leading member for many years,  where he became chairman of the
judiciary committee.

In the session of 1877-78 he reported the bill commonly called the
"Thurman Bill,"  to compel the Pacific railroads to secure their
indebtedness of nearly seventy millions to the government,  and
supported it by a written report sustaining its constitutionality and
propriety,  and also by elaborate and able arguments in the debate that
followed.  The constitutionality of the bill was relentlessly assailed
by its opponents,  but the law has been sustained by the Supreme Court.

Judge Thurman has always been a Democrat of the strictest sect,  and not
inclined to run after temporary expedients in politics.  He firmly
believes that the welfare of the country depends upon the preservation
of the Democratic party,  and to a singular degree he has the respect of
the public,  irrespective of parties,  for integrity and uprightness. 
In selecting him as their candidate in the canvass of 1888 for the high
office of Vice-President the Democratic party is widely judged to have
especially honored themselves.
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