Daniel Symmes (1772 – May 10, 1817) was a politician in the U.S. State of Ohio in the Ohio State Senate, an Ohio Supreme Court Judge 1805–1808, Mayor of Cincinnati 1808–1809, and register of the Cincinnati land office.

Daniel Symmes was born at Sussex County, New Jersey. He was a nephew of the pioneer land speculator of southwest Ohio John Cleves Symmes. He was educated at Princeton College, and came west with his family, among the first settlers in the Miami Purchase.

Daniel Symmes

In 1794, he was appointed Hamilton County Sheriff by Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair. Symmes married Elizabeth Oliver on April 10, 1796, in North Bend, Ohio. Symmes practiced law in Cincinnati, and, in June 1803, he was elected to the first Board of Directors of the first bank established in the State of Ohio, the Miami Exporting Company of Cincinnati. In 1803 he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney for several counties.

Daniel Symmes

Just after statehood, Symmes was elected to represent Hamilton County in the Ohio Senate for the first through third General Assemblies, 1803–1805. In 1805 the Ohio Legislature appointed him a judge of the Ohio Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy created when Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr. resigned.

Daniel Symmes

In 1808–1809, Symmes served as President of the Cincinnati Council, (equivalent to Mayor).

Symmes was appointed register of the Cincinnati Land Office by President Jefferson, resigning from the court, and served for seven years.

Symmes died May 10, 1817, in Cincinnati. His wife remarried, to Thomas Graham, September 29, 1819.

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Ohio lawyers

Princeton University alumni

Ohio state senators

Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court

Politicians from Cincinnati

1772 births

1817 deaths

Mayors of Cincinnati

Ohio sheriffs

Ohio University trustees

County district attorneys in Ohio

People from Hamilton County, Ohio

People from Sussex County, New Jersey

19th-century American lawyers