Robert B. Van Valkenburgh

Robert B. Van Valkenburgh

Robert Bruce Van Valkenburgh (born September 4, 1821 in Prattsburgh , New York , † August 1, 1888 in Suwanee Springs , Florida ) was an American officer and politician . Between 1861 and 1865 he represented New York State in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Robert Bruce Van Valkenburgh was born in Steuben County about six years after the end of the British-American War . He attended the Franklin Academy in Prattsburgh. Then he studied law . After receiving his license to practice law, he began practicing in Bath . He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1852, 1857, and 1858 . During the civil war he commanded the recruiting station in Elmira and set up 17 regiments . He was a Colonel in the 107th Regiment of the New York Volunteer Infantry and its commander at the Battle of Antietam .

Politically, he belonged to the Republican Party . In the congressional elections of 1860 for the 37th Congress , Van Valkenburgh was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the 28th  constituency of New York , where he succeeded William Irvine on March 4, 1861 . In 1862 he ran in the 27th constituency of New York for the 38th Congress . After a successful election, he succeeded Alexander S. Diven on March 4, 1863 . He retired from the after March 3, 1865 Congress of. During his two terms in office, he chaired the Committee on Militia .

After the war ended, he was Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1865 . On January 18, 1866, he was appointed US Minister Resident in Japan to succeed Robert H. Pruyn - a position he held until November 11, 1869. Then he settled in Florida. On May 20, 1874, he was appointed associate judge on the Supreme Court of Florida . He held the position until his death on August 1, 1888 in Suwanee Springs at Live Oak in Suwannee County . His body was then interred in the Old St. Nicholas Cemetery on the south side of the St. Johns River south of Jacksonville .

Web links

• Robert B. Van Valkenburgh in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Robert B. Van Valkenburgh in the database of Find a Grave (English)