John Palmer Usher

John Palmer Usher (January 9, 1816 – April 13, 1889) was a U.S. administrator who served in the Cabinet of President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.

Life and career

Born in Brookfield, New York, Usher trekked west in 1839 to locate in Terre Haute in western Indiana where he became a law partner with William D. Griswold in the firm of Griswold & Usher. An outstanding trial lawyer, Usher traveled the circuit in Indiana and Illinois during the 1840s and 1850s, becoming acquainted with Abraham Lincoln of Springfield, Illinois. He also became a mentor to young Joseph Gurney Cannon.

While Usher was serving as the elected Indiana Attorney General in March 1862, Lincoln asked him to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Then-secretary Caleb Blood Smith had little interest in the job, and, with declining health, soon delegated most of his responsibilities to Usher. When Smith resigned in December 1862, Usher became Secretary effective January 1, 1863.

Usher served as the Secretary of the Interior between 1863 and 1865. He was known as genial, courteous, and unobtrusive secretary. He accompanied Lincoln to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in November 1863 for the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery and sat on the platform with other dignitaries when Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address. When William P. Fessenden resigned as Secretary of the Treasury in March 1865, Lincoln nominated Hugh McCulloch from Indiana to replace Fessenden at Treasury. Lincoln did not want two men from Indiana in his cabinet. Usher dated his resignation March 8, 1865 with an effective date of May 15. His resignation was accepted by Lincoln on March 9 and Usher continued to serve until May 15, a month after Lincoln's assassination. Lincoln had nominated his close friend James Harlan to replace Usher. Harlan had been confirmed by the Senate and took over as Secretary of Interior under now President Andrew Johnson.

John Palmer

John Palmer may refer to:

People

Politicians

Architects

Religious figures

Military

John Palmer (Unitarian, 1729?–1790)

John Palmer (1729?–1790) was an English Unitarian minister.

Life

He was born about 1729 in Southwark, where his father was an undertaker. His parents were independents, and he was educated for the congregational ministry, under David Jennings, D.D.

In 1755 he became assistant to John Allen M.D. (d. 31 December 1774, aged 72), Presbyterian minister at New Broad Street, London. When Allen moved (1759) to Worcester, Palmer became pastor. The congregation declined, and ceased in 1772 to contribute to the Presbyterian fund. On the expiry of the lease of the meeting-house (1780) the congregation was dissolved, and Palmer left the ministry.

From 1768 he was a trustee of Dr. Daniel Williams's foundations. After 1780 he lived in retirement at Islington, where he died on 26 June 1790, aged 61. He married a wealthy lady.

Views

He defended free will against Joseph Priestley. His religious views coincided with those of his friend, Caleb Fleming.

Works

He published, in addition to funeral sermons for George II (1760) and Caleb Fleming (1779), and a funeral oration for Timothy Laugher (1769):

John Palmer (criminal)

John Palmer (c.1950 – 24 June 2015) was a British criminal involved in many illegal activities.

Early life

Born in Birmingham, and reportedly dyslexic, Palmer left school at 15, and became a paraffin salesman.

Brink's-MAT acquittal

In 1987, he was found not guilty in the Brink's-Mat robbery. He admitted melting down gold bars from the robbery in his garden but said he did not know they were stolen. He was reported by The Independent in 1993 as being subject to an asset freezing Mareva Injunction gained by Brink's-Mat from the High Court of Justice, enabling investigators to track his substantial financial resources He later paid out £360,000 to Lloyd's the insurers as a result of a civil action brought against him, but continued to plead his innocence in the 1987 robbery and in 1999 claimed the authorities were persecuting him. For his connection to the Brink's-Mat robbery, Palmer acquired the sobriquet of 'Goldfinger'.

Conviction for time-share fraud and later events