John Van Buren (U.S. representative)

John Van Buren (May 13, 1799 – January 16, 1855) was an American attorney and politician in the U.S. state of New York. He represented New York in the United States House of Representatives and New York State Assembly in addition to serving terms as county judge and district attorney of Ulster County.

John Van Buren
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 7th district
In office
March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843
Preceded byRufus Palen
Succeeded byJoseph H. Anderson
District Attorney of Ulster County, New York
In office
1846–1850
Preceded byWillet Linderman
Succeeded byRobert F. Macauley[1]
County Court Judge of Ulster County, New York
In office
1836–1841
Preceded byAbraham D. Soper
Succeeded byJames C. Forsyth[2]
Member of the New York State Assembly from the Ulster County District
In office
1831–1832
Serving with John J. Schoonmaker
Preceded byMatthew Oliver
Green Miller
Succeeded byLeonard Hardenbergh
Heman Landon[3]
Personal details
Born(1799-05-13)May 13, 1799
Kingston, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 16, 1855(1855-01-16) (aged 55)
Kingston, New York, U.S.
Resting placeSharp Burial Ground
Kingston, New York
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseLaura Amelia Hardy Van Buren
ChildrenDaniel Tompkins Van Buren
Persen Van Buren
Parent(s)Cornelius Van Buren
Elisabeth (Persen) Van Buren
Alma materUnion College
ProfessionAttorney, politician

Born and educated in Kingston, Van Buren graduated from Union College, studied law, and attained admission to the bar. In addition to practicing in Kingston, Van Buren became active in the Democratic Party. The offices he held included member of the New York State Assembly (1831–1832), Judge of Ulster County (1836–1841), member of the United States House of Representatives (1841–1843), and Ulster County District Attorney (1846–1850).

Van Buren was ill for the last three months of his life. He died in Kingston, and was buried at Sharp Burial Ground in Kingston.

Early life

Van Buren was born in Kingston, New York, the son of Cornelius Van Buren and Elisabeth (Persen) Van Buren.[4] He graduated from Union College in 1818,[5] studied law with Charles H. Ruggles, was admitted to the bar, and began to practice in Kingston.[6]

Political career

He held many different political positions in New York, and in 1831 was a member of the New York State Assembly representing Ulster County in the 54th New York State Legislature. Van Buren was Judge of Ulster County from 1836 to 1841.[7] He was elected as a Democrat to the 27th United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1841, to March 3, 1843.[8] While in Congress, he was Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State. After leaving Congress he resumed the practice of law and served as Ulster County District Attorney from 1846 to 1850.[9]

Van Buren died in Kingston on January 16, 1855[10] and is interred at Sharp Burial Ground in Kingston.[11]

The other John Van Buren

Van Buren is sometimes confused with John Van Buren, the son of President Martin Van Buren.[12][13] President Van Buren's son was born in 1810 and died in 1866.[14] John Van Buren of Kingston was born in 1799 and died in 1855.[15] While both John Van Burens were active in New York's Democratic Party, President Van Buren's son never lived in Kingston, served as a Judge, or was elected to Congress.[16][17]

Family

Van Buren and his wife Laura Amelia Hardy (1800–1874)[18][19] had two children, Daniel Tompkins Van Buren (1826–1890) and Persen Van Buren (1842–1852).[20]

Daniel Tompkins Van Buren was an 1847 graduate of the United States Military Academy who served in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War, and attained the rank of brigadier general by brevet as a member of the Union Army.[21][22]

References
  1. Ulster County Legislature (1885). Proceedings of the Ulster County Legislature. Kingston, NY: Leader Book and Job Printing Department. p. 179.
  2. Proceedings of the Ulster County Legislature, p. 178.
  3. New York State Assembly (1852). Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York. Vol. 7. Albany, NY: C. Van Benthuysen. pp. 244–245.
  4. Waite, H. C.; Peckham, Buren (1913). History of Cornelis Maessen Van Buren. New York, NY: Tobias A. Wright. pp. 95, 169.
  5. Philomathean Society (Union College) (1847). Catalogue of the Members of the Philomathean Society, Instituted in Union College, in 1795. Riggs, printer. p. 14. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  6. United States. Government Printing Office (1918). Congressional serial set. U.S. G.P.O. p. 1073.
  7. United States. Congress (1913). A Biographical Congressional Directory: With an Outline History of the National Congress, 1774–1911: the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774 – October 21, 1788, the United States Congress, from the First to the Sixty-second Congress, March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1911. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1073. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  8. Congressional Quarterly, inc (2009). American Political Leaders 1789–2009. CQ Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-1-4522-6726-5. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  9. Ulster County, N.Y. County Legislature (1921). Proceedings of the Ulster County Legislature. Ulster County, N.Y. County Legislature. p. 313. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  10. Herringshaw, Thomas William (1914). Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States; Illustrated with Three Thousand Vignette Portraits. American Publishers' Association. p. 528. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  11. Poucher, J. Wilson; Terwilliger, Byron J. (1931). Old Gravestones of Ulster County, New York. Vol. I. Kingston, NY: Ulster County Historical Society. p. 51. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  12. Wead, Doug (2003). All the Presidents' Children. New York, NY: Atria Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-7434-4631-0. (Note: This reference is included as an example of how the John Van Buren who was Martin Van Buren's son is mistaken for the John Van Buren who was a Congressman from New York.)
  13. Quinn-Musgrove, Sandra L. (1995). America's Royalty: All the Presidents' Children. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 40–42. ISBN 978-0-313-29535-5. (Note: This reference is included as an example of how the John Van Buren who was Martin Van Buren's son is mistaken for the John Van Buren who was a Congressman from New York.)
  14. Miller, Richard F. (August 5, 2014). States at War, Volume 2: A Reference Guide for New York in the Civil War. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. p. 383. ISBN 978-1-61168-266-3.
  15. Napton, William Barclay (2005). The Union on Trial: The Political Journals of Judge William Barclay Napton, 1829–1883. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-8262-1571-0.
  16. "Obituary: Death of John Van Buren" (PDF). New York Times. October 17, 1866.
  17. John Van Buren at Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress Archived April 23, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  18. Old Gravestones of Ulster County, New York, p. 51.
  19. Schoonmaker, Marius (1888). The History of Kingston, New York: From Its Early Settlement to the Year 1820. New York, NY: Burr Printing House. p. 422.
  20. History of Cornelis Maessen Van Buren, p. 169.
  21. Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy (July 19, 1890). Proceedings of the 21st Annual Reunion. Saginaw, MI: Evening News Printing and Binding House. pp. 12–15.
  22. Meyer, Henry C. (July 19, 1890). "Death Notice, Brigadier General Daniel T. Van Buren". The Engineering and Building Record and the Sanitary Engineer. New York, NY: Henry C. Meyer. p. 98.
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