Oliver PHELPS, Congress, NY (1749-1809)
PHELPS, Oliver, a Representative from New York; born in Poquonock, Hartford County, Conn., October 21, 1749; completed preparatory studies; engaged in mercantile pursuits in Granville, Mass., in 1770; during the Revolution was deputy commissary in the Continental Army and served until the end of the war; settled in Suffield, Mass.; member of the Massachusetts state house of representatives 1778-1780; member of the constitutional convention in 1779 and 1780; served in the Massachusetts state senate in 1785; member of the Governorâs council in 1786; assisted in the organization of the Phelps &Gorham syndicate in 1788 and acted as the representative of that company in the exploration of the Genesee country in western New York; first judge of Ontario County, N.Y., 1789-1793; moved to Canandaigua, N.Y., in 1802; elected as a Republican to the Eighth Congress (March 4, 1803-March 3, 1805); unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor of New York in 1804; died on February 21, 1809, in Canandaigua, N.Y.; interment in Pioneer Cemetery, Canandaigua, N.Y.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
