William B. Rochester

William Beatty Rochester (born January 29, 1789 in Hagerstown , Maryland , † June 14, 1838 off the coast of North Carolina ) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1821 and 1823 he represented New York State in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William Beatty Rochester was born in Washington County about six years after the War of Independence ended . He attended public schools and then graduated from Charlotte Hall Military Academy in St. Mary's County . During the British-American War he was aide-de-camp of General George McClure . After the end of the war he studied law . He began practicing law in Bath, New York after receiving his license to practice law. He later moved to Angelica, New York.

As an opponent of an overly strong central government, he joined the Democratic-Republican Party founded by Thomas Jefferson at that time . He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1816 and 1818 . In the 1820 congressional elections for the 17th Congress , he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the 20th  electoral district of New York , where he succeeded Jonathan Richmond and Caleb Baker on March 4, 1821 . In 1822 he ran for the Crawford faction in the 28th constituency of New York for the 18th Congress . After a successful election, he joined the US House of Representatives on March 4, 1823 as the first representative of the district. However, he resigned from his seat in Congress a few weeks later .

On April 21, 1823, he was appointed judge at the district court in the 18th district - a position he held until his resignation in 1826. At that time he ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the office of governor of New York. He then worked as secretary for Special Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Colombia and in 1827 as Chargé d'Affaires in Central America . In 1828 he settled in Buffalo , where he became president of the Second Bank of the United States branch . He was also later president of the Bank of Pensacola in Florida and between 1837 and 1838 director of the Alabama and Florida Railroad Company .

On June 14, 1838, the steamship Pulaski sank off the coast of North Carolina. At that time, Rochester was on board the ship.

Web links

• William B. Rochester in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William B. Rochester in the database of Find a Grave (English)