Azariah Boody (April 21, 1815 – November 18, 1885) was an American politician and a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from New York.

Biography

Born in Stanstead County in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

on April 21, 1815, Boody was the son of Jonathan and Nancy Evans Boody. He moved to Massachusetts with his parents, who settled in Lowell. He attended the common schools, and moved to Rochester, New York, in 1850 where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was also trustee of the University of Rochester from 1853 to 1865. He married Ambia Corson.

Career

Elected as a Whig to the

Thirty-third United States Congress The 33rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1853, ...

, Boody served as a United States Representative for the twenty-ninth district of New York. He served from March 4 until his resignation on October 13, 1853, citing "pre-existing obligations." Boody invested heavily in railroads, and was responsible for several New York lines (including the Genesee Valley Railroad, the Niagara Falls Railroad, and the

Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

) being consolidated with others into the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

system. He also served on the board of directors of the Lake Erie, Wabash, and St. Louis Railroad Company, and was the president of the Wabash and Toledo Railroad Company until 1873.

Death and legacy

Boody died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

in New York, New York County, New York, on November 18, 1885 (age 70 years, 211 days). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Mount Hope Cemetery,

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. Boody's name is still honored by the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

community. There is or has been a "secret organization" called the Azariah Boody Society, dedicated to promoting school spirit. The popular school song "The Dandelion Yellow," written by Charles F. Cole and Richard L. Greenen in 1925, contains a verse commemorating Boody's donation of his cow pastures to the university:

O, Azariah Boody's cows were sleek and noble kine
They wandered o'er the verdant fields where grew the
dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...
.
And when they drove the cows away to build a home for knowledge
They took the color from the flow'r and gave it to the college.

References

External links

*
History of the song "The Dandelion Yellow""The Dandelion Fellow: Azariah Boody" by Rachel Thibo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boody, Azariah 1815 births 1885 deaths Politicians from Rochester, New York Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 19th-century American legislators Deaths from pneumonia in New York City 19th-century American railroad executives Businesspeople from Rochester, New York