Daniel Stevens DICKINSON, Congress, NY (1800-1866)

DICKINSON, Daniel Stevens, a Senator from New York; born in Goshen, Conn., September 11, 1800; moved with his parents to Guilford, Chenango County, N.Y., in 1806; attended the common schools; apprenticed to a clothier; taught school for several years; subsequently engaged in land surveying; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1828 and commenced practice in Guilford, N.Y.; postmaster of Guilford 1827-1832; moved to Binghamton, N.Y.; first president of the city of Binghamton in 1834; member, State senate 1837-1840; lieutenant governor and ex officio president of the senate and president of the court of errors 1842-1844; appointed and subsequently elected in 1844 as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nathaniel P. Tallmadge; reelected in 1845 and served from November 30, 1844, to March 3, 1851; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Finance (1849), Committee on Manufactures (Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses), Committee on Private Land Claims (Thirty-first Congress); resumed the practice of law; appointed collector of the port of New York, but declined the position; elected attorney general of the State in 1861; appointed United States commissioner for the final settlement of the Hudson Bay and Puget Sound agricultural claims 1864; appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as United States attorney for the southern district of New York 1865-1866; died in New York City on April 12, 1866; interment in Spring Forest Cemetery, Binghamton, Broome County, N.Y.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Dickinson, Daniel S. Speeches, Correspondence, etc. of the late Daniel Dickinson of New York. Edited by John R. Dickinson. 2 vols. New York: G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1867; Hinman, Marjory B. Daniel S. Dickinson: Defender of the Constitution. Windsor, NY: Marjory B. Hinman, 1987.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present