Return J. Meigs, Jr.

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Return J. Meigs, Jr.


image_width=
order=5th
title=United States Postmaster General
term_start=1814
term_end=1823
predecessor=Gideon Granger
successor=John McLean
birth_date=November 17, 1764
birth_place=Middletown, Connecticut, USA
death_date=March 29, 1825
death_place=Marietta, Ohio, USA
party=Democratic-Republican
spouse=
profession=Politician, Lawyer, Judge
religion=

Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr. (pronunciation: IPA| [mɛgz] – rhymes with "eggs") (November 17, 1764 – March 29, 1825) was a Democratic-Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 4th Governor of Ohio and 5th United States Postmaster General.

Meigs was born in Middletown, Connecticut, the son of Return J. Meigs, Sr. and the descendant of early Puritan settlers in Massachusetts. He graduated from Yale College in 1785. After passing the bar in Connecticut, he moved to Marietta, Ohio three years later. He was appointed the first Chief Justice of the Ohio State Supreme Court in 1803. He served in that position for a year before serving as a judge in the Louisiana Territory and Michigan Territory. He returned to Ohio in 1807 to run for governor. He won the election, but was declared ineligible for failing to meet the residency requirements. He then was appointed to the U.S. Senate to finish the term of John Smith and was re-elected to his own term a year later. He resigned in late 1810 after winning the governorship. He served two two-year terms, resigning in April 1814 when appointed Postmaster General by President Madison. He served until resigning in 1823 due to ill health.

Return J. Meigs was disappointed not to have a male heir. However, two of his younger brothers, John and Timothy, each named a son Return Jonathan Meigs. The first of these passed the bar in Frankfort, Kentucky, but commenced law practice in Athens, Tennessee, and became prominent in Tennessee state affairs before the Civil War, but moved to New York at the time of Tennessee's secession from the Union in 1861. [http://www.meigs.org/rjm368.htm] Among those men who read law under his tutelage in Tennessee was William Parish Chilton.

Meigs County, Ohio is named in his honor. (Meigs County, Tennessee is named for his father.)

References

*CongBio|M000633 Retrieved on 2008-08-10