Lewis F. Linn

Lewis Fields Linn (* November 5, 1795 in Louisville, Kentucky; † October 3, 1843 in Ste Genevieve, Missouri. ) Was an American politician who represented the state of Missouri in the U.S. Senate.

Lewis Linn received only a meager schooling before he studied medicine in Louisville. During the British - American War he served as a doctor in the army. He then completed his medical training from in Philadelphia, after which he began practicing in Sainte Genevieve in Missouri Territory. There he helped to fight two cholera epidemics successfully.

His first political office took over Linn in 1827 as a member of the Senate from Missouri. In October 1833 he was appointed after the death of U.S. Senator Alexander Buckner in the Congress; the subsequent by-election, he also won. Initially a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he later joined as the other followers of Andrew Jackson, the new Democratic Party. 1836 and 1842 he was re-elected each. Linn, who died in office, was chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims and the Committee of Agriculture.

Four states paid tribute to Lewis Linn, designated by a county after him: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Oregon. The place in West Linn Oregon also bears his name.

Some other members of his family were active politically: his half-brother Henry Dodge was a U.S. Senator and Governor of Wisconsin, his nephew Augustus C. Dodge sat for Iowa in the U.S. Senate, his brother James Hugh Relfe for Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives. His nephew William Pope McArthur he supported in his efforts to become the first surveyor of the Pacific Coast.