Gardner Stow (New York Attorney General)

Gardner Stow (August 1789 – June 25, 1866) was an American lawyer and politician who served as

New York State Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...

Early life

He was in

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

Franklin County, Massachusetts Franklin County is a nongovernmental county located in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 71,029, which makes it the least-populous county on the Massachusetts mainland, and the ...

, the son of Timothy Stow and Mary (Kendall) Stow. The family removed first to Warrensburg, and in 1802 to

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

. In 1806, he moved to Sandy Hill, New York to study law with Roswell Weston, and made the acquaintance of fellow students

Silas Wright Silas Wright Jr. (May 24, 1795 – August 27, 1847) was an American attorney and Democratic politician. A member of the Albany Regency, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, New York State Comptroller, United Stat ...

, Zebulon R. Shipherd, and Esek Cowen, who were studying with

Roger Skinner Roger Skinner (June 1, 1773 – August 19, 1825) was an attorney and government official from New York. He was most notable for his service as United States district judge for the Northern District of New York from 1819 to 1825. A native of ...

. When Cowen was admitted to the bar and commenced practice, Stow continued his studies at the office of Gansevoort and Cowen in Gansevoort's Mills,

Saratoga County, New York Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popu ...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1811, and practiced with Cowen in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, before later relocating to Elizabethtown.

Military service

Stow served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

as a member of two different units of the New York Militia, a company commanded by John Calkins of Elizabethtown, and a regiment commanded by Ransom Noble of

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

. He was a corporal in the company, and a sergeant major in the regiment. Stow remained in the militia after the war, and in 1819 he was appointed Judge Advocate of the 40th Brigade; later in 1819 he was appointed adjutant of the 37th Regiment.

Early career

Stow was active in politics and government, first as a Federalist, then as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

, and later as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. He served as a justice of the peace beginning in 1813, was Elizabethtown's Postmaster, and also served terms as Essex County Treasurer.

Temperance advocate

In 1808, Stow was one of the founders of the Moreau and

Temperance Society, the first such society organized in New York State. In 1834, in an address delivered before a Temperance Society in Keeseville, he was "the first man to advocate legislation to prohibit all traffic in intoxicating liquor, as a beverage." Newspaper articles in 1858 indicated that four members of the temperance society organized in Moreau and Northumberland were still alive, including Stow, and that he had advocated for temperance throughout his career.

Later career

Stow later moved to

Keeseville, New York Keeseville is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Clinton and Essex counties, New York, United States. The population was 1,815 at the 2010 census. The hamlet was named after the Keese family, early settlers from Vermont. It developed alon ...

, and was District Attorney of Essex County from 1838 to 1844. In 1840, he was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the New York State Senate. In the 1840s, he also carried out court-related assignments as commissioner in bankruptcy, master in chancery, and examiner in chancery. In 1845, Stow moved to

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

, where he continued to practice law. After the resignation of Levi S. Chatfield, he was appointed

by Governor

Horatio Seymour Horatio Seymour (May 31, 1810February 12, 1886) was an American politician. He served as Governor of New York from 1853 to 1854 and from 1863 to 1864. He was the Democratic Party nominee for president in the 1868 United States presidential elec ...

on December 8, 1853, to fill the vacancy until the end of the year.

Death

He died in Troy on June 25, 1866.

Family

Stow's first wife, Charlotte, died young. In 1831, Stow married Sophia Patrick of

Windsor, Vermont Windsor is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As the "Birthplace of Vermont", the town is where the Constitution of Vermont was adopted in 1777, thus marking the founding of the Vermont Republic, a sovereign state until 1791, when ...

. His daughter Evelina Charlotte Stow (1812–1839) married Sewall Sylvester Cutting (1813–1882) in 1836, and their only son was Gardner Stow Cutting (1838–1883).

Notes

Sources

Gardner Stow
at ''Political Graveyard''

Danville, Vermont Danville is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,335 at the 2020 census. The primary settlement in town is recorded as the Danville census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 385 at the 2020 census. ...

''North Star'', at ''Rootsweb''
''The New York State Register for 1843''
edited by O. L. Holley, page 373, (J. Disturnell, Albany NY, 1843)
''The New York State Register for 1847''
edited by Orville Luther Holley, page 83, (J. Disturnell, New York NY, 1847)
''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
Obituary of Sewall S. Cutting
in New York Times on February 8, 1882 (giving wrong middle initial "H." for his older son) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stow, Gardner 1789 births 1866 deaths People from Orange, Massachusetts People from Warren County, New York People from Northumberland, New York Politicians from Troy, New York People from Keeseville, New York People from Warrensburg, New York People from New York (state) in the War of 1812 New York (state) Federalists New York (state) Democratic-Republicans New York (state) Democrats New York (state) state court judges County district attorneys in New York (state) New York State Attorneys General 19th-century American judges