Elbridge G. Spaulding

Infobox Congressman
name=Elbridge Gerry Spaulding

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width=200px
state=New York
district=32nd
party=Whig, Republican
term=March 4, 1849 – March 3, 1851
March 4, 1859 – March 3, 1863
preceded=Nathan K. Hall
Israel T. Hatch
succeeded=Solomon G. Haven
"(none)"
date of birth=February 24, 1809
place of birth=Summer Hill, New York, USA
date of death=May 5, 1897
place of death=Buffalo, New York, USA
spouse=
profession=Politician, Lawyer
religion=
footnotes=

Elbridge Gerry Spaulding (February 24, 1809 Summer Hill, Cayuga County, New York - May 5, 1897 Buffalo, Erie County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician.

Life

He was the first of nine children of Edward Spaulding and Mehitable Spaulding. In 1829, he began the study of law in the office of Fitch & Dibble at Batavia, New York. During this time he served as recording clerk in the county clerk's office to meet his expenses. In 1832, he completed his studies in Attica, New York with Harvey Putnam. Later that year he was admitted to the bar in Genesee County, New York. In 1834, he moved to Buffalo, and became a clerk in the office of Potter & Babcock, leading attorneys in the city.

In March 1836, he was appointed City Clerk of Buffalo. On September 5, 1837, he married Antoinette Rich (d. 1841). In 1841, Spaulding was elected Alderman of the Third Ward, and served as Chairman of the Executive Committee. On September 5, 1842, he married Nancy Selden Strong (d. 1852), and they had three children. He was one of the original men that helped to get the University at Buffalo established in 1846.

He was Mayor of Buffalo in 1847, and was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1848. While in the Assembly, he secured passage of a law authorizing the formation of gas light corporations in the State. The Buffalo Gas Light Company was the first such created, and he became a director and stockholder of it.

He was elected as a Whig to the 31st United States Congress, serving from 1849 to 1851.

He was New York State Treasurer from 1854 to 1855, and was elected again to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican, serving in the 36th and 37th United States Congresses from 1859 to 1863. In 1862, he drafted the Legal Tender Act, and the National Currency Bank Bill.

In 1864, he organized the move of the Farmers & Mechanics' National Bank from Attica, N.Y., to Buffalo. On May 2, 1864, he married Delia Strong, his second wife's sister. In 1869, he published "History of the Legal Tender Paper Money Issued During the Great Rebellion".

He was buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo.

ources

*CongBio|S000705
* [http://www.co.cayuga.ny.us/summerhill/ourtown/history/spalding.htm Congressman Elbridge G. Spaulding: Father of the Greenback]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=E3sFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA35 Google Book] "The New York Civil List" compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 35f and 306; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
* [http://www.buffalonian.com/history/industry/mayors/Spaulding.htm] Mayors of Buffalo, at "The Buffalonian"

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11670 Elbridge G. Spaulding] at Find A Grave