Beriah Wilkins (July 10, 1846 – June 7, 1905) was an American politician and Civil War veteran who served three terms as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1883 to 1889.

Biography

Born near Richwood, Ohio, Wilkins attended the common schools of Marysville, Ohio. During the American Civil War, he enlisted as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, May 2, 1864, and served until honorably discharged August 31, 1864. He then engaged in banking in Uhrichsville, Ohio. He was a member of the Ohio Senate in 1880 and 1881 and served as member of the Democratic State central committee in 1882.

Congress

Wilkins was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, and Fiftieth Congresses (March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1889). He served as chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency (Fiftieth Congress).

Later career and death

After his congressional service, Wilkins settled in Washington, D.C. He became majority owner and publisher of The Washington Post in 1889, and later, in 1894, acquired the entire stock ownership of the paper, serving as editor until his death in Washington, D.C., June 7, 1905. He is interred in Rock Creek Cemetery.