Lewis Eaton

Lewis Eaton (February 17, 1790 – August 22, 1857) was a United States Congressman from New York.

Lewis Eaton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 12th district
In office
March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1825
Preceded byNathaniel Pitcher
Reuben H. Walworth
Succeeded byWilliam Dietz
Town Supervisor of Duanesburg
In office
1819–1820
Sheriff of Schenectady County
In office
1821–1822
Personal details
BornFebruary 17, 1790
New York (state) Duanesburg, New York
DiedAugust 22, 1857
New York (state) Buffalo, New York
Nationality United States
Political partyDemocratic-Republican
OccupationFarmer
Military service
Branch/serviceNew York Militia
Rank Brigadier General

Life

Eaton became a farmer, also becoming active in politics, including serving as Duanesburg Town Supervisor from 1819 to 1820.[1][2][3] From 1821 to 1822 Eaton served as Schenectady County Sheriff.[4][5][6][7]

Eaton was elected as a Crawford Democratic-Republican to the 18th United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1823 to March 3, 1825. Eaton voted in favor of the Tariff of 1824[8] and took part in the House caucus that nominated William Crawford for President.[9][10][11]

After leaving the House Eaton returned to his farm, also holding the position of postmaster in the hamlet of Eaton (sometimes spelled Eatons or Eaton's) Corners.[12][13] He was a member of the New York State Senate (3rd D.) from 1829 to 1832, sitting in the 52nd, 53rd, 54th and 55th New York State Legislatures.[14][15][16] In addition, he was an active militia officer and attained the rank of Brigadier General.[17][18]

In the mid-1830s Eaton moved to Lockport, New York, where he purchased the Nathan Comstock Jr. House.[19] Eaton was Lockport's postmaster and president of the Lockport Bank, and also served as a member of the New York Bank Commission from 1832 to 1838.[20][21][22]

In the late 1830s he relocated to the village of Black Rock (now part of Buffalo), where he resumed farming, was a clerk in the federal revenue collection office for the Niagara district, became a lumber dealer and was President of the City Bank of Buffalo.[23][24][25][26]

During the 1840 election for President, Eaton was a delegate to a convention of former Democratic-Republicans who endorsed Whig nominees William Henry Harrison and John Tyler.[27] In 1841 he was a member of the reception committee for a large gathering in New York City which honored Nathaniel P. Tallmadge following his return to the United States Senate after having switched from the Democratic Party to the Whigs.[28]

In the early 1840s he served as a Special Agent of the United States Post Office Department, ensuring that postmasters and mail carriers did not use the service for illegal purposes.[29][30]

Eaton was active in several agricultural societies and farming organizations, including being a founder and President of the Buffalo Horticultural Society. Agricultural journals and fair records from the 1820s to the 1850s are replete with entries on his prize winning cattle, pigs, poultry, asparagus, pears, apples, and other farm products, as well as notations on the prizes his wife won for her peonies and other floral arrangements.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]

Eaton died in Buffalo on August 22, 1857. He was originally interred at Black Rock Burial Ground, and most of the remains there, including Eaton's, were later moved to Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery.[40][41]

References
  1. United States Federal Census, 1820, Lewis Eaton family entry
  2. Duanesburgh Fair, from the Plough Boy and Journal of the Board of Agriculture, published by New York State Board of Agriculture, Volume 2, Number 25, (November 18, 1820), page 196
  3. History of the County of Schenectady, N.Y., from 1662 to 1886, by George Rogers Howell and John H. Munsell, 1886, pages 172 to 172
  4. Annual Report, by Schenectady County Sheriff, 2009
  5. Bi-centennial history of Albany County, N.Y., 1609 to 1886, edited by George Rogers Howell and Jonathan Tenney, 1886, Volume 4, page 77
  6. 1845 Cultural nexus in Transportation and Communication: Express, Rail Road, Telegraph & the Post Office, by Diane DeBlois and Robert Dalton Harris, Postal History Symposium, October 22, 2007, page 5
  7. Newspaper legal notices (three), page 1, The Cabinet (Schenectady, New York), Volume XII, Number 579, August 8, 1821
  8. Speech of Mr. J.J. Hardin of Illinois Reviewing the Public Life and Political principles of Mr. Van Buren Delivered in the House of Representatives March 21, 1844, Appendix, Tariff of May 22, 1824, page 31
  9. The Life and Times of Martin Van Buren, by William Lyon MacKenzie, 1846, page 55
  10. Niles Weekly Register, edited by Hezekiah Niles, February 21, 1824, page 389
  11. Register of Debates in Congress, published by United States Congress], Volume 1, 1825, Appendix, page 1
  12. Table of Post Offices in the United States, published by United States Post Office Department, 1831, page 69
  13. New York Annual Register, by Edwin Williams, 1831, page 68
  14. Journal of the Senate of the State of New York at their Fifty-Yhird Session, published by New York Senate, Volume 1, 1830, page 51
  15. In Senate, March 4, 1830. (Brought in by Mr. Eaton.) An Act to Incorporate Manhattan College, printed by Edwin Croswell, 1830
  16. Journal of the Senate of the State of New York at their Thirty-Fifth Session, published by New York Senate, 1832, page 138
  17. Recollections of Buffalo During the Decade from 1830 to 1840, or Fifty Years Since, by Samuel M. Welch, 1891
  18. The papers of John C. Calhoun, by John Caldwell Calhoun, edited by Robert Lee Meriwether, William Edwin Hemphill and Clyde Norman Wilson, 1993, page 181
  19. Virginia L. Bartos (June 2011). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Nathan Comstock Jr. House". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  20. Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, published by New York Legislature, 1833, Volume 56, Issues 1-2, page 38
  21. Life and Times of Martin Van Buren, by William Lyon Mackenzie, 1848, page 94
  22. The New-Yorker, edited by Horace Greeley and Park Benjamin, Volume 10, page 90, April 28, 1838
  23. United States Federal Census for 1840, Lewis Eaton family entry
  24. United States Federal Census for 1850, Lewis Eaton family entry
  25. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances of the United States, published by U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1849, pages 422 to 423
  26. Home History, Recollections of Buffalo During the Decade from 1830 to 1840, or Fifty Years Since, by Samuel M. Welch, 1891, Chapter 3, pages 44 to 60
  27. Niles, Hezekiah; Niles, William Ogden; Hughes, Jeremiah; Beatty, George (October 31, 1840). "Proceedings of the Auburn Convention". Niles Weekly Register. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  28. "Politics of the Day: The Tallmadge Festival in New York". Niles Weekly Register. June 12, 1841. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  29. Correspondence of James K. Polk: September-December 1844, by James Knox Polk, edited by Wayne Cutler, Robert G. Hall and Jayne C. Defiore, 1993, pages 346 to 347
  30. Diane DeBlois and Robert Dalton Harris, 1845 Cultural Nexus in Transportation & Communication: Express, Railroad, Telegraph & the Post Office, October 22, 2007, page 5
  31. Newspaper article, Duanesburgh Agricultural Society Reorganized in 1819, the Altamont (N.Y.) Enterprise, October 19, 1934
  32. The Commercial Advertiser Directory for the City of Buffalo, published by Jewett, Thomas and Co., Buffalo, 1849, page 44
  33. Genesee Farmer magazine, 1849, Volume 10, page 259
  34. Report on Fruits, September Show, Buffalo Horticultural Society, The Western Literary Messenger, October 6, 1847, page 169
  35. The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and all Useful Discoveries, edited by Charles Mason Hovey, 1852, Volume 18 page 377
  36. The Horticultural Review and Botanical Magazine, 1851, Volume 1, page 450
  37. Proceedings of the Second Congress of Fruit Growers, published by the National Congress of Fruit Growers and the American Pomological Society, 1852, page 5
  38. The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and all Useful Discoveries, by Charles Mason Hovey, 1852, Volume 18, page 330
  39. Fruit Growers Society of Western New York, The Cultivator magazine, published by the New York State Agricultural Society, November, 1855
  40. Obituary of Lewis Eaton, published in The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and all Useful Discoveries, edited by Charles Mason Hovey, Volume 23, 1857, page 430
  41. Grave marker photos, Find A Grave page for Lewis Eaton, accessed July 24, 2010
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