Edmund Levi Pitts (May 23, 1839 – July 11, 1898) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

and

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

Early life and education

Pitts was born in

Yates, New York Yates is a town in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 2,510 at the 2000 census. The town in named after Joseph C. Yates, a governor of New York. The Town of Yates is located in the northwestern part of the county. ''( ...

, the son of John M. Pitts (1814–1907) and Mary Ann Clark Pitts (1820–1873). He was educated at Yates Academy, then studied law with

Sanford E. Church Sanford Elias Church (April 18, 1815 – May 14, 1880) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. He served as Lieutenant Governor of the state of New York and chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Early life Born in Milford, Ot ...

at Albion, New York, and graduated from the State and National Law School in Ballston Spa, New York in 1860.

Career

He was a member of the

1864 Events January–March * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song " ...

1865 Events January–March * January 4 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at Broad Street (Manhattan), 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City. * January 13 – American Civil War : Sec ...

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman tr ...

1867 Events January–March * January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It was renamed a ...

and

1868 Events January–March * January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. * January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...

. In 1867, he was chosen Speaker of the New York State Assembly, at the age of 27 the youngest man ever to hold this office. He was a delegate to the

1868 Republican National Convention The 1868 Republican National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in Crosby's Opera House, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, on May 20 to May 21, 1868. Ulysses S. Grant won the election and became the 18th president of t ...

. From May 1870 to June 1873, he was an Assessor of United States Revenue for Orleans County. He was a member of the

(29th D.) from 1880 to 1883, sitting in the 103rd, 104th, 105th and

106th New York State Legislature The 106th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to May 4, 1883, during the first year of Grover Cleveland's governorship, in Albany. Background Under the provisi ...

s. In May 1881, when Roscoe Conkling and

Thomas C. Platt Thomas Collier Platt (July 15, 1833 – March 6, 1910), also known as Tom Platt

resigned their seats in the United States Senate, he opposed firmly their re-election. He was a delegate to the

1884 Republican National Convention The 1884 Republican National Convention was a presidential nominating convention held at the Exposition Hall in Chicago, Illinois, on June 3–6, 1884. It resulted in the nomination of former House Speaker James G. Blaine from Maine for presiden ...

. He was again a member of the State Senate in

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

and

1887 Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

, and was

President pro tempore A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

Personal life

He married Una E. Stokes (1843–1920) on December 9, 1862. Their only child was Grace M. Pitts (1867–1900). Pitts died in Medina, New York. He was buried at Boxwood Cemetery in Ridgeway, New York.

Sources

Speaker election, NYT on January 3, 1867

Nomination for re-election to the State Senate, in NYT on September 30, 1881

Chosen as Pres. pro tem of State Senate, in NYT on January 5, 1886

His father's and wfe's obits, at Rootsweb

List of burials at Boxwood Cemetery, at Rootsweb

His obit in NYT on July 12, 1898 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitts, Edmund Levi 1839 births 1898 deaths Speakers of the New York State Assembly Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Republican Party New York (state) state senators Majority leaders of the New York State Senate People from Yates, New York People from Medina, New York People from Ridgeway, New York 19th-century American politicians