Godlove Orth (1817-1882), Godlove Orth Behm (1828-1888)

Portrait from Orth's congressional memorial address book, 1883.

   One of Indiana's prominent public men of the 19th century, Godlove Stein Orth represented the Hoosier State in Congress on several occasions, was acting Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, and later was tapped by President Grant to serve as U.S. Minister to Austria. Born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania on April 22, 1817, Godlove Orth was the son of Gottlieb and Sarah (Stein) Orth. Orth's early education saw him attend public schools in his area and enrolled at the Pennsylvania College in Gettysburg. After turning his attention to law studies, Orth read law under James Cooper (1810-1863), who would shortly begin a political career of his own, being a Congressman, Pennsylvania Attorney General, and U.S. Senator from 1849-55. 
   After passing the Pennsylvania bar exam in 1839, Orth elected to relocate to the then-bourgeoning state of Indiana to begin his law practice, and after a period of travel, he set up a practice in LaFayette, where he would keep a home for the remainder of his life. Orth soon found a clientele in the still young town, and entered the political field for the first time during the 1840 presidential election, stumping for candidate William Henry Harrison, and with these actions, began to make a name for himself (politically speaking) in his adopted home state. 

   In 1843, Orth received the Whig nomination for the Indiana state senate and that November won his first three-year term in that body. During the 1843-46 session, Orth sat on the committees on Canals and Internal Improvements, Corporations, Education, the Judiciary, and in 1845 was elected Senate President pro tempore. This position saw Orth as acting Lieutenant Governor of the state in the wake of the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Jesse Bright, who had been elected to the U.S. Senate in 1844. Orth was nominated for a term of his own as Lieutenant Governor in February 1846 but refused, and later that year won a second three-year term in the state senate, chairing the Judiciary Committee during his term.
  During the 1848 election, Orth served as a Whig presidential elector for Indiana on the Taylor-Fillmore ticket. Through the 1850s, Orth practiced law in Lafayette, and at the dawn of the Civil War in 1861, was named as one of five Indiana delegates to the Peace Convention held in Washington, D.C. This convention was brought about to stave off the impending violence, but the crisis couldn't be averted. When war finally came, Orth did his patriotic duty and entered into military service, albeit in the position of Captain of a company of local citizens. Although he didn't see battle, Orth and his company were dispatched to the Ohio River, where they went aboard the U.S. ram Hornet and patrolled the waterways. After a brief period of war service, Orth returned to his civic duties.

    In 1862, Orth entered into the race for the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana as the Union Republican candidate and that October defeated incumbent Democrat John Upfold Pettit, 12,005 votes to 11, 181. Taking his seat in March of 1863, Orth was named to the committees on Foreign Relations and Freedmen for that session. An anti-slavery advocate, Orth lobbied hard for the passage of the 13th amendment and was subsequently re-elected to Congress in 1864, 1866, and 1868. During his service, Orth chaired the Committee on Private Land Claims, and in the 1869 session introduced resolutions that aimed to annex the Dominican Republic (then called Santo Domingo) and make it a territory of the United States.

                                                Godlove Orth during his congressional service.

   In 1870 Orth refused to be a candidate for renomination but was induced to run for a fifth congressional term in 1872. He would win the election and during the 1873-75 term chaired the Foreign Affairs committee. Orth wasn't a candidate for renomination in the 1874 election, and the next year was selected by President Grant as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Austria-Hungary, commencing in March 1875. Orth served overseas for a little over a year, resigning his diplomatic post in May 1876. Two years later, Orth was elected to Congress for a sixth term and in November 1880 defeated Democrat William Myers to win his seventh term, polling 18, 277 votes to Myers' 17,475.
  Ill health marred Orth's last term, and in 1882, believing he was suffering from malaria, visited the warm springs at Berkley Springs, West Virginia in the hope that it would improve his health. Sources also relate Orth as suffering from cancer, and at an unknown date had undergone surgery to remove a spot from his lip, only to have the cancer return in his neck. Following his return to Indiana, Orth launched his eighth bid for Congress, but health concerns compelled him from taking an active part in the campaign. In November 1882 Orth was narrowly defeated by Democrat Thomas Bayless Ward, a former mayor of LaFayette, 17,357 votes to 16, 482. A little more than a month following this loss, Orth died at his LaFayette home on December 16, 1882, aged 65. He was survived by his wife Mary and was memorialized by fellow Indiana congressman Thomas McClelland Browne as having been:

"Of a sunny nature, and had a cheerful word, a genial smile and a hearty greeting for all. No man ever had friends more devoted and self sacrificing than he. He had a personal magnetism that attracted men and held them. They stood by him in every viccisitude of his fortune. No assault upon his record or his honor  weakened their faith or caused them to faulter in their friendship."

Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

   In an aside note, while doing research for this article, I managed to locate a photograph (courtesy of Findagrave.com) of Godlove Orth's gravestone, located at the Greenbush Cemetery in LaFayette, Indiana. Curiously, if one takes a look at the aforementioned photograph, you'll notice that the Orth's name is written incorrectly as "Godlove Stoner Orth", proving either that the engraver fell asleep at the wheel while carving it, or really enjoyed the green stuff!

From the Mayesville Evening Bulletin, December 18, 1882.

                                   
  In an addendum to Godlove Stein Orth's article, on May 1, 2012, another politician was found who shares Orth's unusual first name "Godlove". Read on to find out more!!!

   The nephew of the preceding gentleman, Godlove Orth Behm was, like his uncle, a native of the Keystone state. Born on January 7, 1828, in Lebanon, young Godlove O. Behm studied at the Moravian School in Litz, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Indiana in 1845. Soon after his arrival, Behm began the study of law in the office of his famous uncle and was admitted to the Indiana bar at a very young age.
  A few years after passing the bar, Behm was elected to the Indiana State House of Representatives in 1851, representing Tippecanoe County. At the age of 23, he was the youngest member of the legislature and during his one term held a seat on the Judiciary Committee. In the years following his legislative service, Behm distinguished himself in other aspects of public life, including service in the Civil War. From 1862-63 he was Captain of the 100th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers and in 1863 was named Lieutenant Colonel of the 116th Indiana Infantry. 
  After being mustered out of the military, Behm returned to his earlier law practice and in 1869 was appointed by then Indiana Governor Conrad Baker as Prosecuting Attorney for the Criminal Court of Tippecanoe County. Behm served only four months in this post before being named by President Grant as the Assessor of Internal Revenue for Indiana's 8th District. Behm held this position until 1873 when he resigned and returned to practicing law with his younger brother, Adam Orth Behm.
  Godlove O. Behm continued with his law practice until his death on March 26, 1888, in Lafayette, Indiana. He was subsequently buried in the Greenbush Cemetery in Lafayette next to his wife Sarah, who had predeceased him in February 1883. The rare portrait of him shown at the top of his profile here was discovered in an 1876 Atlas of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Aside from the numerous maps located in this atlas, there were also quite a few prints of then-prominent Tippecanoe citizens, of which Mr. Orth was one.

                            This roster was found in the 1851 Indiana General Assembly Journal.