Martin Welker

Martin Welker (April 25, 1819 – March 15, 1902) was a lawyer, politician, and judge from Ohio. Welker served three terms as a Republican member of the House of Representative, winning election in 1864, 1866, and 1868. Following his retirement from Congress, Welker was appointed a federal judge for the Northern District of Ohio by President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant in 1873, remaining in that post until his retirement in 1889.

Biography

Early years

Martin Welker was born in Knox County, Ohio on April 25, 1819. His father was an émigré from Germany and an early European pioneer in Ohio.

Martin left the family farm at the age of 14 to take a job as a clerk in a store in Millersburg, Ohio. He later studied law in the same town, eventually gaining admission to the bar in 1840 at the age of 21 and commenced legal practice in Millersburg.

In 1846, Welker was appointed clerk of the Holmes County Court of Common Pleas, serving in that position until 1851.

Ohio state politics

In 1848, Welker was the Whig nominee for the Congress, but lost in the largely Democratic district. In 1850, he again was offered the nomination, but declined it. In January, 1851, he re-entered private practice. He served as judge of the sixth district of the Ohio Courts of Appeal from 1852 to 1857. He moved to Wooster, Ohio, in 1857.