History of Ogdensburg, (Saint Lawrence County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Ransom H. Gillet, representative, was born in New Lebanon, N.Y., Jan. 27, 1800. He removed with his parents to Saratoga county, and in 1819 to St. Lawrence county, where he was admitted to the bar and settled to practice at Ogdensburg. He was a member of the Democratic national convention, 1832; a representative in the 23d and 24th congresses, 1833-37; Indian commissioner, 1837-39; register of the U.S. treasury, 1845-47; solicitor of the treasury, 1847-49; assistant U.S. attorney-general, 1855-58; and solicitor of the court of claims, 1858-61. He published Life of Silas Wright (1847); a History of the Democratic Party (1868); The Federal Government (1871). He died at Ogdensburg, N.Y., Oct. 24, 1876.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Selden Jennings Coffin, educator, was born in Ogdensburg, N.Y., Aug. 3, 1838; son of James Henry and Aurelia Medici (Jennings) Coffin; grandson of Matthew Coffin, banker, of Northampton, Mass., and of the Rev. Ebenezer Jennings, of Dalton, Mass., and a descendant of Tristram Coffin. He was graduated at Lafayette college, where his father was professor of mathematics and astronomy, in the class of 1858, and at the theological seminary, Princeton, N.J ., in 1864. He then accepted a tutorship in Lafayette college, was made adjunct professor of mathematics and at the death of his father in 1873 succeeded to his chair. In 1874 he was ordained by the presbytery of Lehigh. He was elected a member of the American association for the advancement of science in 1874, and served on important committees. Besides contributing to scientific journals articles on meteorology he completed The Winds of the Globe (1875), written by his father; revised Olmsted's Astronomy (1882); and published Lafayette College: Its History, Its Men and Their Record (1879).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Preston King, senator, was born in Ogdensburg, N.Y., Oct. 14, 1806; an illegitimate son of John King and Margaret Galloway. He was graduated at Union college in 1827, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practised in St. Lawrence county, N.Y. In 1830 he established the St. Lawrence Republican and supported Andrew Jackson for President in 1832. He was postmaster of Ogdensburg, 1831-34; member of the state assembly, 1835-38, and a supporter of the annexation of Canada. When the Canadian patriots were captured on the Canada side near Ogdensburg and some of them executed, he became temporarily insane and was committed to an asylum. He was a representative in the 28th and 29th congresses, 1843-47, and in the 31st and 32d congresses, 1849-53, and it was due to his political influence that the Wilmot Proviso was brought up, Jan. 4, 1847, and passed the house. He joined the Republican party in 1854, and was the unsuccessful candidate of that party for secretary of state in 1855. He was U.S. senator from New York, 1857-63, and upon the expiration of his term, removed to New York city, and resumed the practice of his profession. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention of 1864; chairman of the Republican national committee, 1860-64; presidential elector at large for New York in 1865, and collector of the port of New York by appointment of President Johnson in 1865. He mysteriously disappeared from a ferry boat while crossing the Hudson river from New York city, Nov. 12, 1865, and his body was recovered from the water in May, 1866, and buried with suitable honors next to the graves of his father and mother at Ogdensburg, N.Y.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor