KILBOURNE, James, a Representative from Ohio; born in New Britain, Conn., October 19, 1770; pursued classical studies; studied theology and entered the Episcopal ministry; one of the founders of the Scioto company to trade in Ohio and the Northwest in 1801; founded Worthington, Ohio, in 1803; appointed United States surveyor of public lands in 1805 and laid out the present city of Sandusky; appointed by President Madison a member of the commission to ascertain the western boundary of the Virginia military reservation between the Little Miami and Scioto Rivers July 1, 1812; president of Worthington College; colonel of a frontier regiment during the War of 1812; elected as a Republican to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses (March 4, 1813-March 3, 1817); member of the State house of representatives in 1823, 1824, 1838, and 1839; president of the convention of 1839 to lay the cornerstone of the State capitol in Columbus and of the Whig State convention in 1840; died in Worthington, Ohio, April 9, 1850; interment in St. John’s Episcopal Church Burying Ground.
BibliographyBerquist, Goodwin Fauntleroy, and Paul C. Bowers, Jr.. The New Eden: James Kilbourne and the Development of Ohio. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1983.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present