Lewis Steenrod was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from Virginia, who helped secure Congressional authorization of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge but who later opposed secession of what became West Virginia months before his death.
11 Facts About Lewis Steenrod
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Lewis Steenrod attended private schools as a child, then read law.
3.
Lewis Steenrod married Mary Neldon in Athens, Ohio on September 5,1843, but she soon died at age 23, and their infant son died after just six weeks.
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In 1850, Lewis lived with his parents and 21 year old nephew Daniel Steenrod in their mansion.
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In 1838 as the Democratic candidate, Steenrod defeated incumbent Whig Richard W Barton, and served in the United States House of Representatives from 1839 to 1845.
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Lewis Steenrod served on the Committee on Roads and Canals as well as Committee on Revolutionary Pensions.
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Lewis Steenrod introduced a bill to authorized a bridge across the Ohio River, which would supplant a partial bridge and ferry service between two major sections of the National Road.
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In part to counteract the initial unfavorable Supreme Court decision, voters elected Lewis Steenrod to represent Ohio, Brooke and Hancock Counties in the Virginia Senate from 1853 to 1856, which passed a law favoring the bridge.
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Lewis Steenrod died of tuberculosis at his home near Wheeling, West Virginia on October 3,1862, and his father two years later.
10.
Lewis Steenrod was interred in Stone Church Cemetery in Elm Grove, West Virginia.
11.
Sheriff Lewis Steenrod sold a large part of the property to Wheeling for a 150 house subdivision, but sold the house to his son, Dr Lewis Steenrod and his wife.