James W. Wilkin

James W. Wilkin

James Whitney Wilkin (born 1762 in Wallkill , Orange County (now Ulster County ), New York Province, † February 23, 1845 in Goshen , New York ) was an American lawyer, officer and politician. Congressman Samuel J. Wilkin was his son.

Career

James Wilkin grew up during the British colonial era. He served in the Continental Army during the War of Independence . After the war he went to Princeton College , where he graduated in 1785. He studied law . He was admitted to the bar in 1788 and then began practicing in Goshen. Wilkin was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1800 . He entered the New York militia , where he achieved the rank of major general . Wilkin served in the New York Senate between 1801 and 1804 and between 1811 and 1814. He was also in the years 1808 and 1809 again a member of the New York State Assembly, where he held the post of speaker last year . He was a member of the Council of Appointments in 1802, 1811 and 1813 . As an opponent of an overly strong central government, he joined the Democratic-Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson at that time . In 1813 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the US Senate .

On June 7, 1815, he was then elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the sixth electoral district of New York to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Jonathan Fisk . After a successful re-election, he left the Congress on March 3, 1819 .

He was then between 1819 and 1821 as a town clerk ( county clerk ) in Orange County and several years as a treasurer in the county. He died in Goshen on February 23, 1845 and was then buried in Slate Hill Cemetery .

Web links

• James W. Wilkin in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James W. Wilkin in the database of Find a Grave (English)