Victory Birdseye

Victory Birdseye (December 25, 1782 – September 16, 1853) was an American politician and a U. S. Representative from New York.

Victory Birdseye
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York
In office
March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1843
Preceded byNehemiah H. Earll
Succeeded byOrville Robinson
Constituency23rd district
In office
March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817
Preceded byJames Geddes
Succeeded byJames Porter
Constituency19th district
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the Onondaga County district
In office
January 1, 1840 – December 31, 1840
Preceded byJames R. Lawrence
Succeeded byMoses D. Burnet
In office
January 1, 1838 – December 31, 1838
Preceded byDaniel Denison
Succeeded byJames R. Lawrence
In office
January 1, 1823 – December 31, 1823
Preceded bySilvester Gardner
Succeeded bySamuel L. Edwards
Member of the New York Senate
from the 7th district
In office
January 1, 1827 – December 31, 1827
Preceded byJedediah Morgan
Succeeded byGeorge B. Throop
Personal details
BornDecember 25, 1782 (1782-12-25)
Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut
DiedSeptember 16, 1853 (1853-09-17) (aged 70)
Pompey, Onondaga County, New York
Citizenship United States
Political partyDemocratic-Republican Whig
SpouseElecta Beebee Birdseye
ChildrenEllen Douglas Birdseye Wheaton
Alma materWilliams College
Professionlawyer politician

Biography

Birdseye was born in Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut attended the public schools at Cornwall, Connecticut. He graduated from Williams College in 1804. Then he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1807, and commenced practice in partnership with Daniel Wood, Esquire, in Pompey Hill, New York until 1814. In 1813, he married Electa Beebee of Pompey. His daughter Ellen Douglas Birdseye married abolitionist Charles Augustus Wheaton. His great-grandson Clarence Birdseye developed the process for freezing food and founded Birds Eye Frozen Foods.

Career

Elected as a Democratic-Republican to the 14th United States Congress, Birdseye held the office of United States Representative for the nineteenth district of New York from March 4, 1815, to March 3, 1817.

Birdseye was Postmaster of Pompey Hill from 1817 to 1838, D.A. of Onondaga County from 1818 to 1833, and a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1821. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Onondaga Co.) in 1823, and of the New York State Senate (7th D.) in 1827.

Birdseye served as the special counsel to conduct prosecution in the trial of parties for the alleged abduction of William Morgan, a man who threatened exposure of the Freemason's secrets and whose disappearance brought about powerful anti-masonic sentiments in the U.S., sparking the formation of the Anti-Masonic Party.[1]

Birdseye was again a member of the State Assembly in 1838 and 1840. While serving the latter term, Birdseye drafted and ushered through a bill that provided for the rescue of New York State citizens who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery. [2] Under the provisions of that law, Solomon Northup, who had been enslaved in Louisiana, was restored to freedom in 1853.

Elected as a Whig to the 27th United States Congress, Birdseye held the office of U. S. Representative for the twenty-third district of New York from March 4, 1841, to March 3, 1843. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law.

Death

He died on September 16, 1853, in Pompey, Onondaga County, New York; and was buried at the Pompey Hill Cemetery there.

References
  1. "Victory Birdseye". The Strangest Names In American Political History. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  2. David Fiske (6 May 2014). "The Law That Saved Solomon Northup, and Others". New York History Blog. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
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