Representative Emanuel Shultz

Emanuel Shultz (July 25, 1819 – November 5, 1912) was an American shoemaker, merchant, manufacturer, banker, and Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio, serving a single term from 1881 to 1883. He was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, the son of George and Mary (Vinyard) Shultz. He attended the public schools until the age of eleven, when his father died. Compelled to leave school at that time, he relied thereafter on diligent self-study. As a youth he was apprenticed to the trade of shoemaking, a craft that would form the basis of his early livelihood and business career.

In 1838, Shultz moved to Miamisburg, Montgomery County, Ohio, where he established himself as a shoemaker and quickly expanded his operations, employing from five to fifteen journeymen to make boots and shoes. On July 23, 1840, he married Sarah Beck of Miamisburg; the couple had three daughters. Shultz became active in fraternal organizations and was initiated as a charter member of Marion Lodge of the Masons in 1844. He advanced in Masonic ranks to become a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Templar, and he was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, reflecting his prominence in the civic and social life of his community.

By the mid-1840s, Shultz had broadened his business interests beyond shoemaking. Around 1846 he became a trader in general produce and soon emerged as one of the largest and most successful commercial operators in the Miami Valley. His success in trade led him to take a leading role in many of the prominent enterprises of Miamisburg. Beginning in 1853, he became a leading dealer in tobacco leaf, at a time when Montgomery and Butler counties were major tobacco-producing and manufacturing centers in Ohio and in the United States throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century. In 1865, he was one of the founders of the private bank of H. Groby & Co., and in 1871 he helped organize the Miami Valley Paper Company, in which he was a principal, further diversifying his interests into banking and manufacturing.

Shultz’s political career developed alongside his business activities. He initially affiliated with the Whig Party, but after the formation of the Republican Party he became a steadfast Republican. He served in a variety of local minor offices in Montgomery County before being elected county commissioner in 1859, a position he held until 1862. In 1873, he was chosen as a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention, which undertook a comprehensive revision of the state constitution; although the convention completed its work, the proposed constitution was ultimately rejected by the voters in a subsequent referendum. In 1875, Shultz was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served one term and declined to be a candidate for re-election.

Shultz sought national office in the late 1870s. In 1878, he ran as the Republican candidate in Ohio’s 3rd congressional district against Democrat John A. McMahon but was defeated. Following redistricting, he again contested a seat in 1880, this time in Ohio’s 4th congressional district, once more facing McMahon. In that election he was narrowly elected to the Forty-seventh Congress and served from 1881 to 1883. As a member of the Republican Party representing Ohio, Emanuel Shultz contributed to the legislative process during this single term in office, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents during a significant period in American political and economic development. In 1882, after another redistricting returned him to the 3rd district, he was narrowly defeated for re-election by Democrat Robert Maynard Murray, ending his congressional service after one term.

After leaving Congress, Shultz returned to Miamisburg and resumed his involvement in manufacturing, particularly in the paper industry. In 1881, he had been one of the organizers and stockholders of the Lima Car Works, a company that built railroad freight cars and later became part of the Lima Locomotive Works. He served as vice president of the Lima Car Works until he sold his interest in the firm around 1889. That same year, President Benjamin Harrison appointed him postmaster of Miamisburg, a federal position he held for about five years, further underscoring his continued engagement in public service and local affairs in his later life.

Emanuel Shultz lived to an advanced age, remaining a respected figure in Miamisburg’s business and civic circles. He died in Miamisburg on November 5, 1912, at the age of ninety-three, and was interred in Hill Grove Cemetery.