Elial Todd Foote (May 1, 1796 – November 17, 1877) was an American physician, politician, jurist and historian. He was the judge of

Chautauqua County, New York Chautauqua County is the westernmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the population was 127,657. Its county seat is Mayville, New York, Mayville, an ...

, from 1824 to 1843. Previously, he had three terms in 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 ...

(1819–1820, 1826–1827).

Biography

Early life and career

Foote was born in Gill, Massachusetts, as the eldest of the 11 children of Samuel Foote (1770–1848) and Sybil Doolittle Foote (1777–1832). In 1798, his family moved to Sherburne, New York. Here, his father purchased land and operated a tavern. Foote attended schools there and at Oxford Academy. Foote a studied medicine under Dr. Guthrie and attended medical lectures in New York City. In 1815, he was licensed as a doctor by the Chenango County Medical Society. In the same year, he moved to

Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest pop ...

, to begin a medical practice as the new settlement's first physician. He later abandoned the practice and turned to politics. He was married to Anna Cheney (1800–1840) and they had five children. In 1822, he purchased 350 acres from the Holland Land Company on which he built his home the following year. This was later the site of the Jamestown Union School and Collegiate Institute and presently the site of the Jamestown High School, which is noted on a historical marker.

Politics

Foote was elected to the

in 1819, representing Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Niagara counties in the

43rd New York State Legislature The 43rd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 4 to April 14, 1820, during the third year of DeWitt Clinton's governorship, in Albany. Background Under the provisi ...

in 1819–1820. He was again elected to the Assembly in 1825, to the

49th New York State Legislature The 49th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3 to April 18, 1826, during the second year of DeWitt Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, in Albany. Ba ...

in 1826, and again elected in 1826, to the

50th New York State Legislature The 50th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 2 to December 4, 1827, during the third year of DeWitt Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, in Albany. B ...

in 1827. In the latter two terms, he represented Chautauqua County. Foote was an associate judge of Chautauqua County in 1817 and judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Chautauqua County from 1818 to 1823, Jamestown postmaster in 1819, and the fourth Sheriff of Chautauqua county from 1820 to 1821. In 1824, he succeed Zattu Cushing as county judge of Chautauqua County and served until 1843. He was succeeded by Thomas Osborne. Foote was the third postmaster of

, succeeding Dr. Laban Hazeltine on June 13, 1829, and serving until June 8, 1841. During his tenure, he was the first postmaster in the county to introduce letterboxes for individuals, starting with 80 boxes in 1829. Foote was an abolitionist and his papers associated with his antislavery work are preserved by the Chautauqua County Historical Society in its McClurg Museum in Westfield, New York.

Other ventures

Foote was the founder and first president of the Chautauqua County Bank, which was established in 1831. In 1836, he served as President of the Board of Trustees of the Jamestown Academy. He was also the organizer of the first Masonic Lodge in the Chautauqa County, Mt. Moriah. Foote was involved in industrial development, including construction of the Barcelona lighthouse, establishing a steamboat route from Buffalo to Erie, and helped established Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown. He also donated land for the First Methodist, Swedish Methodist, First Congregational, and First Baptist Churches in Jamestown. Foote was also a local historian, in which many of his papers contribtued to Andrew W. Young's 1875 ''History of Chautauqua County, New York From Its First Settlement to the Present Time''.

Later life

After his first wife died in 1840, he married Amelia Stiles Leavitt Jenkins. She was the daughter of Jonathan Leavitt and granddaughter of

Ezra Stiles Ezra Stiles ( – May 12, 1795) was an American educator, academic, Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He is noted as the seventh president of Yale College (1778–1795) and one of the founders of Brown University. According ...

. In 1845, they moved from Jamestown to New Haven, Connecticut. He died there in 1877 and was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Jamestown, New York.

Electoral history

References

External links

*
Elial T. Foote Papers
at the McClurg Museum in Westfield, New York {{DEFAULTSORT:Foote, Elial T. 1796 births 1877 deaths Abolitionists from New York (state) American judges Members of the New York State Assembly Sheriffs of Chautauqua County, New York People from Gill, Massachusetts