Background
He was born on January 3, 1816 at Southampton, Massachussets, United States, the son of Samuel and Dorcas (Burt) Pomeroy, and a descendant of Eltweed Pomeroy who emigrated from England to Dorchester, Massachussets, in 1630.
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He was born on January 3, 1816 at Southampton, Massachussets, United States, the son of Samuel and Dorcas (Burt) Pomeroy, and a descendant of Eltweed Pomeroy who emigrated from England to Dorchester, Massachussets, in 1630.
Samuel entered Amherst College in 1836 but withdrew shortly afterward.
He spent four years in Onondaga County, New York, where he taught school and engaged in business. Returning to Southampton in 1842, he joined the Liberty party, filled several local offices, and served in the General Court in 1852. Appointed financial agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Company in 1854, he accompanied the second party of settlers to Kansas Territory in the fall of that year.
During the Wakarusa War of November-December 1855 he started for Boston to secure aid, but was captured and detained until the crisis was over. When Sheriff Jones assembled "border ruffians" before Lawrence in May 1856, Pomeroy was chosen chairman of a committee of public safety, but he failed to prevent the destruction of the town. He was a delegate to the first Republican National Convention and received eight votes for vice-president. In a sensational speech he declared that freedom for Kansas must be accompanied by reparation and atonement by the South for depredations committed and lives destroyed.
He settled at Atchison, where he served as mayor, 1858-59. During the drought and famine in Kansas, 1860-61, he headed a relief committee which distributed eight million pounds of provisions and seeds, besides clothing and medicine. When Kansas was admitted into the Union, Pomeroy was elected to the United States Senate. He joined the radicals in opposition to Lincoln's administration, and in 1864 became chairman of a committee to promote the candidacy of Salmon P. Chase for president. In a speech before the Senate he declared that old political alignments were dead and recommended the creation of a new party with a vigorous program. The movement, however, met with little popular response.
Pomeroy's unexpected election to the Senate in 1861 was not free from charges of bargain; his reelection in 1867 was investigated by a committee of the legislature which reported unanimously that he had bribed members of the General Assembly. He was slated for a third term in 1873, but when the legislature convened in joint session Senator A. M. York announced dramatically that Pomeroy had bargained for his vote for $8, 000. The belief in Kansas was almost unanimous that he was guilty, and both houses demanded his resignation. Pomeroy asserted before a select committee of the United States Senate that the money was intended to assist in establishing a bank, and the committee concluded after hearing voluminous testimony that the affair was a plot to defeat him for reelection. Nevertheless, the incident ended his political career, although he was nominated for president in 1884 by the American Prohibition National Convention.
After his failure to secure reelection in 1873, he continued to live in Washington for several years, but eventually returned to Massachusetts, making his home at Whitinsville, where he died.
Samuel Clarke Pomeroy served in the United States Senate during the American Civil War, was the mayor of Atchison. He introduced the Act of Dedication bill into the Senate that ultimately led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. He also was the second president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, and the first president to oversee any of the railroad's construction and operations.
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Pomeroy opposed the politics of slavery. He supported Salmon P. Chase for the Republican nomination for President of the United States over the incumbent, Abraham Lincoln.
He was married three times. His first wife was Annie Pomeroy, who died in 1843. On April 23, 1846, he married Lucy Ann Gaylord, who died July 30, 1863. His third wife was Mrs. Martha Whitin of Whitinsville.
