Heman Judd Redfield (December 27, 1788 – July 22, 1877) was an American politician from New York.

Life

Redfield was born on December 27, 1788, in Suffield,

Hartford County, Connecticut Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. According to the 2020 census, the population was 899,498, making it the second-most populous county in Connecticut. Hartford County contains the ...

. He was the son of Peleg Redfield (1762–1852) and Mary (Judd) Redfield (1765–1844). The family were neighbors of

Oliver Phelps Oliver Phelps (October 21, 1749February 21, 1809) was early in life a tavern keeper in Granville, Massachusetts. During the Revolution he was Deputy Commissary of the Continental Army and served until the end of the war. After the war ended, h ...

who opened a land sales office in Suffield, Ct, after the

Phelps and Gorham Purchase The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of of land in what is now western New York State from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $1,000,000 ( £300,000), to be paid in three annual installments, and the pre-emptive right to th ...

. The Redfields exchanged their small property in Suffield for of land in the Town of

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia * Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States *Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California *Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia * ...

(in that part that was later separated as

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Ontario County, New York Ontario County is a county in the U.S. State of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 112,458. The county seat is Canandaigua. Ontario County is part of the Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2006, ''Progressive ...

) and moved to the West in 1800. He attended

Canandaigua Canandaigua (; ''Utaʼnaráhkhwaʼ'' in Tuscarora) is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,545 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county compl ...

Academy from 1808 to 1810, and then studied law with

John Canfield Spencer John Canfield Spencer (January 8, 1788May 17, 1855) was an American lawyer, politician, judge and United States Cabinet secretary in the administration of President John Tyler. Early life John Canfield Spencer was born on January 8, 1788, in H ...

Career

During 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 ...

, he enlisted as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

and fought in the Battle of Queenston Heights, and in November 1813 at

Fort George, Ontario Fort George was a military fortification in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used by the British Army, the Canadian militia, and the United States Armed Forces for a brief period. The fort was mostly destroyed during the War of ...

where he received from the commanding general

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

a brevet for gallant services. He was admitted to the bar in 1815, and commenced practice at Le Roy. He was appointed District Attorney of Genesee County in 1821. He was Postmaster of Le Roy for more than twenty years. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1823 to 1825, representing the eighth district which consisted of Allegany, Cattaraugus,

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua br ...

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

Genesee Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to: Geographic features Canada *Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community United States *Genesee, California *Genesee, Colorado *Genesee County, Michigan *Genesee Co ...

, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara and Steuben counties. In 1826, he was offered the position of Special Counsel to the

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 ...

for the trials against the abductors of William Morgan, but declined, recommending

who was chosen. On May 9, 1835, Redfield was elected a

Canal Commissioner The Commission to Explore a Route for a Canal to Lake Erie and Report, known as the Erie Canal Commission, was a body created by the New York State Legislature in 1810 to plan the Erie Canal. In 1817 a ''Canal Fund'' led by ''Commissioners of the C ...

by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Michael Hoffman, but he declined to take office. The Legislature adjourned on May 11, and left Governor William L. Marcy to appoint John Bowman instead. When the

Holland Land Company The Holland Land Company was an unincorporated syndicate of thirteen Dutch investors from Amsterdam who in 1792 and 1793 purchased the western two-thirds of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase, an area that afterward was known as the Holland Purchas ...

sold out their land in 1836, he became land agent for the new proprietors and moved to Batavia, New York. President Franklin Pierce appointed Redfield Naval Officer of the Port of New York, and on November 1, 1853,

Collector of the Port of New York The Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, most often referred to as Collector of the Port of New York, was a federal officer who was in charge of the collection of import duties on foreign goods that entered the United States by ship at t ...

. He resigned on July 1, 1857, and retired from politics.

Personal life

On January 27, 1817, he married Abigail Noyes Gould (1795–1841), and they had fourteen children. On April 14, 1846, he married Constance Collins Bolles (1813–1909), and they had four children. Redfield died in

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

, New York on July 22, 1877.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Redfield, Heman J. 1788 births 1877 deaths People from Le Roy, New York Erie Canal Commissioners New York (state) state senators County district attorneys in New York (state) Collectors of the Port of New York New York (state) postmasters People from Suffield, Connecticut 19th-century American politicians