Wright Holcomb (December 8, 1843 – March 27, 1896) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

Holcomb was born on December 8, 1843, in

Willsboro, New York Willsboro is a town in Essex County, New York, United States, and lies south of the city of Plattsburgh. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 2,025. The town is named after early landowner William Gilliland. History During the Amer ...

, the son of merchant D. S. Holcomb. His namesake and father's cousin was New York Governor

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 ...

. His mother, a Cole, was a descendant of Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford. Holcomb attended the academy in Champlain. He began attending

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in the fall of 1860, although he left in the summer of 1861. In 1863, he began studying law in

Plattsburgh Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...

in the office of Judge Peter S. Palmer and

Smith M. Weed Smith Mead Weed (July 26, 1833 – June 7, 1920) was a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic lawyer and businessman from Plattsburgh, New York, who served as a member of the New York State Assembly from 1865 to 1867, in 1871, and again i ...

. He was admitted to the bar in 1866, at which point he began practicing law in Plattsburgh for the next year. He also studied law in

Albany Law School Albany Law School is a private law school in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1851 and is the oldest independent law school in the nation. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and has an affiliation agreement with University at A ...

and was affiliated with Union College's class of 1866. In 1867, Holcomb moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he was managing clerk in the office of corporation counsel John E. Delvin. He then returned to Plattsburgh and formed a partnership with Palmer & Weed, renamed Palmer, Weed & Holcomb. In 1875, he moved back to New York City and joined the law firm Matthew, Husted & Folly. After the firm was dissolved in 1878, he practiced alone until he organized a new firm known as Holcomb, Fitzgerald & Condon. After that firm was dissolved in 1891, he formed a new partnership with Daniel F. Martin. He later became senior member of the law firm Holcomb, Martin & Weil, which had offices at 49-51 Chambers Street. In 1890, Holcomb was elected to 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 ...

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 ...

, representing the

New York County Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

9th District. He served in the Assembly in

1891 Events January–March * January 1 ** Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany. ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new Africa ...

. In the Assembly, he was chairman of a special committee on enumeration and apportionment, which investigated the recent federal census in New York City. He was a Tammany Democrat. He was a delegate to the 1894 New York State Constitutional Convention. Holcomb was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. In 1868, he married Elizabeth Vilas of Ogdensburg. They had a son, Charles Spencer. Holcomb died in St. Vincent's Hospital from

Bright's disease Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied b ...

on March 27, 1896. He was buried in Westport.

References

External links

*
The Political Graveyard
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Holcomb, Wright 1843 births 1896 deaths People from Willsboro, New York Dartmouth College alumni Albany Law School alumni Union College (New York) alumni Politicians from Plattsburgh, New York 19th-century American lawyers Lawyers from New York City Politicians from Manhattan 19th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Catholics from New York (state) Deaths from nephritis Burials in New York (state)