US Congressman. Elected as a Republican to represent Ohio's 14th District in the Thirty-Sixth Congress, he served in 1859. A descendant of Quakers, he was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. His father, Shibuah Spink, served under Washington in the Revolutionary War and survived the brutal 1777-1778 winter at Valley Forge; he had an uncle who died at that same encampment. The family moved to New York around 1800 and in 1815 Spink moved to Stark County, Ohio, where he was a schoolteacher for several years while pursuing government jobs in Wayne County. He eventually settled in Wooster. His offices included Wayne County Surveyor (1816 to 1821), two-term member of the State House of Representatives (1821 to 1822), six terms as County Register, appointed by Presidents James Monroe (1824) and John Quincy Adams (1828 to 1832), member of the State Board of Equalization (1846), and co-director of the Ohio Penitentiary (1856 to 1858). For nearly two decades (after 1832) he withdrew from public service to work as a merchant in Wooster, but reemerged as a delegate to the 1852 Whig National Convention. There he was considered for nomination as a presidential candidate even though he did not support the party's platform. Spink fell ill soon after his election to the US House of Representatives in 1858, and he died in Wooster 11 weeks into his term without having taken his seat. There is a cenotaph for him at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.
US Congressman. Elected as a Republican to represent Ohio's 14th District in the Thirty-Sixth Congress, he served in 1859. A descendant of Quakers, he was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. His father, Shibuah Spink, served under Washington in the Revolutionary War and survived the brutal 1777-1778 winter at Valley Forge; he had an uncle who died at that same encampment. The family moved to New York around 1800 and in 1815 Spink moved to Stark County, Ohio, where he was a schoolteacher for several years while pursuing government jobs in Wayne County. He eventually settled in Wooster. His offices included Wayne County Surveyor (1816 to 1821), two-term member of the State House of Representatives (1821 to 1822), six terms as County Register, appointed by Presidents James Monroe (1824) and John Quincy Adams (1828 to 1832), member of the State Board of Equalization (1846), and co-director of the Ohio Penitentiary (1856 to 1858). For nearly two decades (after 1832) he withdrew from public service to work as a merchant in Wooster, but reemerged as a delegate to the 1852 Whig National Convention. There he was considered for nomination as a presidential candidate even though he did not support the party's platform. Spink fell ill soon after his election to the US House of Representatives in 1858, and he died in Wooster 11 weeks into his term without having taken his seat. There is a cenotaph for him at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
Family Members
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See more Spink memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
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North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000
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Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850
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Massachusetts, U.S., Town Birth Records, 1620-1850
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Ohio, U.S., Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Obituary Index, 1810s-2016
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Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988
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