Samuel Lahm

Samuel Lahm (April 22, 1812 – June 16, 1876) was a lawyer, politician, and U.S. Representative from Ohio for one term from 1847 to 1849.

Early life Samuel Lahm was born on April 22, 1811, in Leitersburg, Maryland, to John Lahm. His parents emigrated from Germany. From the age of 12 to 18, he worked on his father's farm. At the age of around 18, he worked for three months at a dry goods store in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Lahm then returned to his father's farm. He attended a school near Leitersburg for two years and taught at a school in the winter. He attended a seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for a summer session. Lahm then taught at a school in Leitersburg for two years. He then attended Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania, but did not graduate. Starting in March 1835, studied law with Oliver H. Smith in Indiana. He served as the master of chancery from 1837 to 1841 and prosecuting attorney of Stark County from 1837 to 1845. He was selected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1844 in Baltimore, Maryland. He lost election to Ohio's 18th congressional district in 1856.

Retiring from politics, he engaged in agricultural pursuits and sheep raising.

Personal life In 1838, Lahm married Almira Webster Brown, daughter of Daniel Brown of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and a relative of Daniel Webster by marriage. They had four sons and one daughter: Marshall, Edward, Frank Samuel, Charles Henry and Helen Rebecca. He later married Henrietta Faber of Pittsburgh in 1855. They had three daughters. He was the father of Frank Samuel Lahm, a noted expatriate and pioneer balloonist, and the grandfather of Brigadier General Frank Purdy Lahm, aerial pioneer, student of the Wright brothers, and the first military officer to fly an airplane. The two eldest sons served in the 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War and died in service within three weeks of each other, by sickness.

He died at his home on West Tuscarawas Street in Canton on June 16, 1876. He was interred in West Lawn Cemetery.