Herman Silver

Herman Silver (1831–1913) was a Republican politician, superintendent of the United States Mint in Colorado, a collector of internal revenue, a railroad official and a member of the Los Angeles, California, City Council.

Silver was born in Magdeburg in Prussian Saxony in 1831, where "he was well-educated with Hebrew training." He emigrated to the United States in 1848, and on the ship he exchanged Hebrew-English language lessons with a Catholic priest.

He settled in Kankakee County, Illinois, where he was a Free Soiler underJohn C. Fremont. He helped organize the Republican Party and became chairman of the Republican county committee in La Salle County. He married Eliza Post in Peru, Illinois and "went to Springfield and met Lincoln and was trusted with political work in Northern Illinois.

He did not serve in the Civil War because of "congestion of the lungs," but he helped raise funds to supports Illinois soldiers, and he helped runaway slaves.

He ran for clerk of LaSalle County in 1861 but was defeated, In 1863 Governor Richard Yates appointed him clerk of the new city of Peru, Illinois, and the same year he became Federal Assessor of the 2nd Illinois District. In 1864 he became a circuit court clerk, and in 1866 he was admitted to the bar. He left that job in 1869.

In 1864 Silver was elected as county clerk on the Republican ticket, after he had "made a vigorous canvass, not only for himself and the rest of the local ticket, but [also] for Lincoln and the Union." He was reelected at the end of his term.

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