David Augustus Boody (August 13, 1837 – January 20, 1930) was an American lawyer, businessman, and politician who served briefly as a

United States representative 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from New York in 1891.

Biography

Born in a log cabin built by his father in

Jackson, Maine Jackson is a town in Waldo County, Maine, United States. The town was named after General Henry Jackson of the Revolutionary War. The population was 610 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has ...

, Boody was the son of David and Lucretia Boody, and attended the common schools and Phillips Academy (in

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

). He studied law with Charles M. Brown in Bangor, Maine, was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 1860 at

Belfast, Maine Belfast is a city in Waldo County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,938. Located at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River estuary on Belfast Bay and Penobscot Bay. Belfast is the county seat of W ...

, and commenced practice in

Camden, Maine Camden is a resort town in Knox County, Maine. The population was 5,232 at the 2020 census. The population of the town more than triples during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. Camden is a summer colony in the Mid-Coas ...

. He married Alice H. Treat.

Career

Boody moved to

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in 1862 and engaged in the banking and

brokerage A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be con ...

business. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Forty-eighth Congress in 1882, and was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1884 and 1892. He was president of Berkeley Institute in Brooklyn from 1886 to 1922.

Congress

Elected 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 ...

to the Fifty-second Congress, Boody served as United States Representative for the second district of New York and held office from March 4, 1891 until his resignation on October 13, 1891.

Career after Congress

Boody was Mayor of the City of Brooklyn in 1892 and 1893, and resumed his former banking and brokerage business. He was President of the Louisiana and Northwestern Railway and Vice-President of the Sprague National Bank. He served as president of the board of trustees of the Brooklyn Public Library from 1897 until his death, and was a member of the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

but retired in 1926.

Death and legacy

Boody died in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, on January 20, 1930 (age 92 years, 160 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 ...

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...

, Brooklyn, New York. David A. Boody Junior High School is named after him in Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn named a

fireboat A fireboat or fire-float is a specialized watercraft with pumps and nozzles designed for fighting shoreline and shipboard fires. The first fireboats, dating to the late 18th century, were tugboats, retrofitted with firefighting equipme ...

after Boody in 1892. The

Brooklyn Fire Department The Brooklyn Fire Department (BFD) was a professional fire department that provided fire protection and rescue services to the city of Brooklyn, New York, within modern-day New York City, from 1869 to 1898. The Brooklyn Fire Department, a paid ...

and the

FDNY The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

operated her until 1914

References

External links

The Political GraveyardGovtrack US CongressDavid A Boody Junior High School Brooklyn NY
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boody, David 1837 births 1930 deaths Phillips Academy alumni People from Waldo County, Maine Politicians from Bangor, Maine Mayors of Brooklyn Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)