Image courtesy Library of Congress

ATHERTON, Gibson, a Representative from Ohio; born near Newark, Licking County, Ohio, January 19, 1831; attended Denison University, Granville, Ohio, and was graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1853; principal of the local academy at Osceola, Mo., in 1853 and 1854; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1855 and commenced practice in Newark, Ohio; president of the board of education of Newark for fifteen years; elected prosecuting attorney of Licking County in 1857 and reelected in 1859 and 1861; mayor of Newark 1860-1864; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the State senate in 1863 and for judge of the court of common pleas in 1866; member of the city council of Newark for two years; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis in 1876; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1883); did not seek renomination but was an unsuccessful candidate for election as judge of the supreme court of Ohio in 1882; appointed to that position by Governor Hoadly the same year and served until the election of his successor six months later; resumed the practice of law; died in Newark, Ohio, November 10, 1887; interment in Cedar Hill Cemetery.