Erastus C. Knight

Erastus C. Knight

Erastus Cole Knight (born March 1, 1857 in Buffalo , New York , † September 3, 1923 in New York City ) was an American businessman and politician .

Career

Erastus Cole Knight's childhood was overshadowed by the Civil War . He attended public schools 16 and 14. He then graduated from Bryant & Stratton College in Buffalo, New York. Then he worked for the Bell Brothers Wholesale. In this context he was on the road as a salesman. Knight took a liking to the product business and therefore founded Knight, Lennox & Co. together with William C. Lennox in 1880. On May 14, 1881, he married Mary Elizabeth Cowles. The couple had a daughter named Gertrude Knight, who married MP Herbert B. Shonk (1881–1930).

After breaking his partnership with Lennox in 1887, Knight started a real estate and insurance company. In 1892 he founded the construction company Jenkins & Knight with Oliver A. Jenkins . Knight was also a partner in Sloan, Cowles & Co., which owned tour steamers and summer vacation spots.

During that time he joined the Republican Party . From 1889 to 1894 he was a supervisor of Buffalo and last year chairman of the county's Board of Supervisors . He held the post of Buffalo City Comptroller from 1895 to 1900 . He was re-elected as a Democrat in 1898 .

He became New York State Comptroller in 1901 , after the incumbent William J. Morgan , who was again nominated at the Republican State Convention , died unexpectedly. Knight was nominated in his place. As acting State Comptroller, he ran for the post of Mayor of Buffalo in November 1900. After his election he held the post from 1902 to 1905. During this time he took part in 1904 as a substitute ( alternate delegate ) in the Republican National Convention . He decided not to run again and returned to his company after his tenure ended.

In 1903 he opened a coal company with his brother George, the EC & GL Knight Company. In 1905 he also founded the Isle of Pines Company, a fruit export company, of which he became President.

Knight moved to New York City in 1920. In August 1923 he fell and broke his hip. He never fully recovered from it despite surgery. He died on September 3, 1923 in his home in the Hotel Pennsylvania and was then buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo).

He belonged to the Freemasons and the Knights Templar .

literature

• Buffalo Goes Republican , The New York Times, Nov. 6, 1901
• Controller Knight Resigns , The New York Times, December 29, 1901

Web links

• Erastus C. Knight on The Political Graveyard website