James M. Birney
| James M. Birney | |
|---|---|
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| U.S. Minister to the Netherlands | |
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In office 1876–1882 |
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| Preceded by | Charles T. Gorham |
| Succeeded by | William Lewis Dayton, Jr. |
| 13th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan | |
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In office January 2, 1861 – April 3, 1861 |
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| Governor | Austin Blair |
| Preceded by | Edmund Burke Fairfield |
| Succeeded by | Joseph R. Williams |
| Member of the Michigan Senate | |
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In office 1858 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 17, 1817 Danville, Kentucky |
| Died | May 8, 1888 (aged 70) Bay City, Michigan |
| Resting place | Pine Ridge Cemetery, Bay City, Michigan |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Amanda S. Moulton |
| Children | James G. Birney, Arthur Moulton Birney, Sophia Hull Birney, Alice Birney |
| Parents |
James Gillespie Birney Agatha (McDowell) Birney |
| Alma mater |
Centre College Miami University Yale College |
| Profession | Lawyer Newspaper Publisher Politician |
James M. Birney (June 17, 1817 – May 8, 1888) was an American lawyer, newspaper publisher and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. He served as the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan and as the U.S. Minister to the Netherlands.
Birney was born in Danville, Kentucky, the eldest son of Agatha (McDowell) and James Gillespie Birney, who was a presidential candidate for the Liberty Party in the 1840 and 1844 elections. He spent his early years in Alabama and Kentucky. He was educated at Centre College in Danville and in 1836 graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. For the next two years, he was employed by the university as a professor of the Greek and Latin languages. After this, he studied law at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut.
Completing his studies, Birney moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and began the practice of law until 1856, when he succeeded to his father's business interests in the Saginaw Valley of Michigan, where his father had made large investments in what has become Bay City. He moved there with in the summer of 1857. One of Birney's most notable early acts of public service was procuring the passage in 1857 of an act in the state legislature changing the name of "Lower Saginaw" to Bay City. In 1856, Birney had the distinction of editing the city's first newspaper, the Bay City Press, which lasted for only a few weeks.
In 1858, Birney was nominated as a Republican candidate for the Michigan Senate. At the time the senate district was regarded as a stronghold of the Democratic Party, thus it was seen as a significant achievement that Birney garnered all of the votes in the district within Bay County except for five. He served a single term in the Senate representing the Saginaw district. While in the Senate, he was chairman of the committee on public instruction and a member of the judiciary committee.
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