Ethan Allen Hitchcock (September 19, 1835 – April 9, 1909) served under

Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

and

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

as U.S.

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also

*Interior ministry ...

Business career

Hitchcock was born on September 19, 1835, in Mobile, Alabama, the son of

Henry Hitchcock Henry Hitchcock (September 11, 1792 – August 11, 1839) was the first Attorney General of Alabama, having been elected by the Alabama General Assembly in December 1819 in its initial session. He was also the Secretary of the Alabama Territor ...

(1791–1839), a

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

on the Alabama Supreme Court, and Anne Erwin Hitchcock. He was the brother of

, nephew of Major General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, grandson of Judge

Samuel Hitchcock Samuel Hitchcock (March 23, 1755 – November 30, 1813) was the 1st Attorney General of Vermont, a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont and a United States Circuit Judge of the United State ...

, and great-grandson of Ethan Allen. He was in mercantile business at Saint Louis, Missouri, 1855–60, then went to China to enter a commission house, of which firm he became a partner in 1866. He was married to Margaret Dwight Collier on March 20, 1869. Ethan and Margaret Hitchcock had three daughters, Sarah, Anne and Margaret Hitchcock. In 1872 he retired from business, in 1874 returned to the United States, and in 1874-97 was president of several manufacturing, mining and railway companies. He was a member of the Missouri Society of the

Sons of the Revolution Sons of the Revolution is a hereditary society which was founded in 1876 and educates the public about the American Revolution. The General Society Sons of the Revolution headquarters is a Pennsylvania non-profit corporation located at Willia ...

Government career

Hitchcock was in his sixties when President McKinley appointed him Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in 1897 and in February 1898 Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, the first Ambassador accredited from the United States to the court of

. He was recalled in 1898 to serve in first McKinley's and then his successor, Roosevelt's, Cabinet. As Secretary of the Interior, Hitchcock pursued a vigorous program for the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

of natural resources and reorganized the administration of Native American affairs. Hitchcock died April 9, 1909, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, at the age of 73. Hitchcock was buried at the

Bellefontaine Cemetery Bellefontaine Cemetery is a nonprofit, non-denominational cemetery and arboretum in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1849 as a rural cemetery, Bellefontaine is home to a number of architecturally significant monuments and mausoleums such as t ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

.Hitchcock, Ethan Allen. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07

References

External links

*
New York Times article on Hitchcock's appointment as Interior Secretary
December 22, 1898. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchcock, Ethan 1835 births 1909 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American diplomats 19th-century American politicians Alabama Republicans Ambassadors of the United States to Russia American expatriates in China Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery Businesspeople from St. Louis McKinley administration cabinet members Missouri Republicans Politicians from Mobile, Alabama Theodore Roosevelt administration cabinet members United States Secretaries of the Interior