remained a spoils man at a time when reformer demands for a federal merit system were gaining support. Delano returned to Ohio to practice law, tend to his business interests, and raise livestock; he did not return to politics and died in 1896. Although Delano was considered a 19th Century American "major mover and shaker", historians have criticized the corruption during Delano's tenure at the Interior Department, and his treatment of Native Americans, and his endorsement of slaughtering bison. Yellowstone is considered Delano's greatest achievement and he was considered to be an effective first administrator. While in office, Delano was an outspoken supporter of black American rights and opponent of the Ku Klux Klan. Early life, education, and political career Columbus Delano was born in Shoreham, Vermont on June 5, 1809, the son of James Delano and Lucinda Bateman. The Delano family was of French ancestry; its first representative in America, Philip Delano, voyaged from Holland in 1621 on the Fortune, the sister ship of the Mayflower. In 1815, at the age of six, Delano's father died, and his family was put under the care of his uncle Luther Bateman. In 1817 the family moved to Mount Vernon in Knox County, Ohio, where Delano resided for the rest of his life. Delano was raised primarily by Luther Bateman, who died in 1817. After an elementary education Delano labored in a woolen mill in Lexington, Ohio, and at other jobs, struggling on his own, to become largely self-sufficient while still a teenager. After beginning self-directed legal studies, Delano formally trained with Mount Vernon attorney Hosmer Curtis from 1830 to 1831, and he attained admission to the bar in 1831. Delano became active in politics as a National Republican, and later as a Whig, and in 1834 he won election as Prosecuting Attorney for Knox County. He won reelection in 1836 and served two terms, 1835 to 1839. Marriage and family On July 14, 1834, Delano married Elizabeth Leavenworth of Mount Vernon, the daughter of M. Martin Leavenworth and Clara Sherman Leavenworth. Their children included daughter Elizabeth (1838–1904), who was the wife of Reverend John G. Ames of Washington, DC, and son John Sherman Delano (1841–1896), a businessman who also worked with his father at the Department of the Interior. Delano and Ulysses S. Grant were distant cousins; they had great-great-grandparents in common. United States Representative (1845–1847) In 1844, Delano was elected