Jacob Burnet (sometimes spelled Burnett[1]) (February 22, 1770 – May 10, 1853) was an American jurist and statesman from Ohio. He served as a U.S. Senator.

Jacob Burnet
United States Senator
from Ohio
In office
December 10, 1828 – March 3, 1831
Preceded byWilliam Henry Harrison
Succeeded byThomas Ewing
Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
In office
1821 – December 11, 1828
Appointed byEthan Allen Brown
Preceded byJessup Nash Couch
Succeeded byJoshua Collett
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from Hamilton County
In office
1814–1816
Preceded byPeter Bell
Ephraim Brown
Zebulon Foster
Succeeded byArthur Henry
Daniel Hosbrook
Benjamin M. Platt
Personal details
Born(1770-02-22)February 22, 1770
Newark, New Jersey
DiedMay 10, 1853(1853-05-10) (aged 83)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Resting placeSpring Grove Cemetery
Cincinnati, Ohio
Political partyAdams
Anti-Jacksonian
RelationsDavid G. Burnet
ParentWilliam Burnet
Alma materCollege of New Jersey
Signature

Early life edit

Burnet was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Dr. William Burnet. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1791,[2] studied law, moved to the Northwest Territory and settled in Cincinnati in 1796.[3] He was admitted to the bar in 1796.[4]

Political career edit

 
Jacob Burnet

He was a member of the Territorial councils of Ohio from 1799 to 1802 and served in the Ohio State House from 1814 to 1816.[5] Burnet was considered the "father of the Ohio constitution" and was an associate justice of the Ohio Supreme Court from 1821 until his resignation in 1828 to serve as United States Senator.[6] He was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Henry Harrison. He served in the Senate from December 10, 1828, to March 3, 1831.[7]

Burnet was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1815.[8]

After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law and served as president of Cincinnati College and the Medical College of Ohio.[9] Burnet's "Notes on the Early Settlement of the North-western Territory" is a primary reference on the early Northwest.

He resided in a mansion on the northwest corner of Seventh and Elm streets in Downtown Cincinnati.[10] Burnet died in Cincinnati on May 10, 1853, aged 83. He is interred in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.[11]

Family life edit

Burnet's half-brother David G. Burnet was the first president of the Republic of Texas.[12]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Gilkey 1901 : 131
  2. ^ Milligan, Fred (2003). Ohio's Founding Fathers. iUniverse. p. 304. ISBN 0595750397. OCLC 53472872. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  3. ^ Charles Theodore Greve (1904). Centennial History of Cincinnati and Representative Citizens, Volume 1. Biographical Publishing Company. p. 377. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  4. ^ Este, David Kirkpatrick (1853). Discourse on the Life and Public Services of the Late Jacob Burnet: Delivered at Smith and Nixon's Hall. Press of the Cincinnati Gazette Company. p. 4. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  5. ^ Milligan, Fred (2003). Ohio's Founding Fathers. iUniverse. p. 112. ISBN 9780595293223. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  6. ^ Gilkey 1901 : 469
  7. ^ J. T. White Company (1901). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time, Volume 11. J. T. White Company. p. 155. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  8. ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
  9. ^ "Jacob Burnet". Ohio History Central. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  10. ^ Picturesque Cincinnati. John Shillito Company. 1883. pp. 22.
  11. ^ "Judge Jacob Burnet". The Spring Grove Family. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  12. ^ "Burnet, David Gouverneur". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved July 17, 2014.

References edit

External links edit