Lewis & Clark College

Tyner, James N.

James Noble Tyner was a lawyer, U.S. Representative and United States Postmaster General from Indiana. Born in Brookville, Indiana, Tyner pursued an academic course and graduated from Brookville Academy in 1844. He was a businessman for ten years, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857, commencing practice in Peru, Indiana. He served as secretary of the Indiana Senate from 1857 to 1861 and was a special agent for the United States Post Office Department from 1861 to 1866. In 1869, Tyner was elected a Republican to the United States House of Representatives. He served from 1869 to 1875. U.S. Representative Tyner served on the Post Office Committee, the Post Roads Committee, and the Education and Labor Committee. U.S. Representative Tyner advocated the removal of the Franking Privilege in his first speech in the House on February 5, 1870. Tyner was appointed Postmaster General in the cabinet of President Ulysses S. Grant, serving from 1876 to 1877. After the end of the Grant administration, he was demoted to Assistant Postmaster General, serving from 1877 until his resignation in 1881. He was a delegate to the International Postal Congress in Paris, France, in 1878 and in Washington, D.C. in 1897. During his tenor as Assistant Attorney General, Tyner was investigated in mid-1903 for corruption in the Post Office. Tyner was indicted for fraud and taking a bribe. Tyner's wife and daughter-in-law, during the postal investigation, had secretly taken documents from Tyner's safe at Tyner's office in the Postal Department. Tyner was acquitted for lack of evidence, however, he lost his job as Assistant Attorney General as a result of the postal investigation. He died in Washington, D.C. on December 5, 1904.

Politicians

1877

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Nineteenth Century Political Party Photograph Collection