Eleazer Green Jr. (1846-1933), Eleazar Wheelock Ripley (1782-1839), Eleazar Kingsbury Foster (1841-1899), Eleazer Ball Parker (1818-1884), Eleazer Holmes Ellis (1826-1906), Eleazer Peck Huntington (1872-1954), Eleazer Smith Cady (1851-1939)

  The following write-up centers on several political figures bestowed the name Eleazer. The first of these men, Eleazer Green Jr.,  served a two-year term as Mayor of Jamestown, New York, and was later elected as Chautauqua County District Attorney. He is little remembered today (even here in Chautauqua County) and one of the few proper biographies mentioning Green can be found in the second volume of John Philip Downs' "History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its People." Green is buried in the Lakeview Cemetery under a small headstone that gives no mention of his lengthy public service to Chautauqua County and Jamestown, and a photo of that headstone concludes his article here.

  Green was born in the village of Remsen, New York on March 16, 1846, the son of Eleazer and Sylvinia Kent Green. Eleazer Green Jr. relocated to Chautauqua County in 1868 and that same year graduated from the prestigious Albany Law School. After returning to Chautauqua, he found employment as a law office clerk, and in 1870 he established his own law practice, continuing in this vocation for decades afterward. He married in 1873 to Mary E. Brown, who predeceased him in death on March 11, 1900. The couple also had three children, Edward (died 1961), Ella (died 1942), and Clara (died 1957).

  Green received his first taste at public office in 1875 when he was elected as clerk of the village of Jamestown, serving one year in this post. The village of Jamestown was incorporated as a city in 1886 and eight years later Eleazer Green Jr was elected as the city's 2nd mayor. His two-year mayoral term ended in 1896 and that same year won election to the office of District Attorney for Chautauqua County. Downs' "History of Chautauqua County" mentions that during his tenure as district attorney, Green "was a terror to the criminal class, allowing nothing to swerve him from the full performance of his duty" and also notes that in his eight years in office, Green prosecuted five murder cases, and secured a conviction for every one of them!

   

                      This portrait of Eleazer Green was featured in the 1895 New York Red Book.

   During his later years, Green served as a trustee of the James Prendergast Library Association and also took an active interest in the fish population of Chautauqua Lake. Using his own funds, Green developed a study on the muskellunge or "muskie", a large freshwater fish that makes its home in Chautauqua Lake. During his research, Green learned of the spawning habits and other aspects of this fish, and through numerous experiments (both by himself and with others) proved that the muskie "could be hatched through artificial means". Green is also mentioned as a "farsighted investor" in the 1898 work "The Men of New York" and this book gives notice of his purchase and development of swampland on the northern portion of Chautauqua Lake. This swampy area of our county was eventually turned into various lakefront properties and was called Greenhurst-on-Chautauqua (now referred to as Greenhurst) and received its name in honor of Eleazer!

  Green died at his Broadhead Avenue home in Jamestown on November 26, 1933. He was nearly 88 years old and was memorialized in his Jamestown Post Journal obituary as the "dean of the legal profession of Jamestown and Chautauqua County". According to the aforementioned obituary, his death was the result of a "sudden and entirely unexpected stroke." 

  To close this article, here is the picture of Eleazer Green's headstone that I took earlier today at Lakeview Cemetery. You'll notice that it gives no mention of his tenure as Jamestown's Mayor or as District Attorney, and is quite modest considering the public stature of the man buried beneath it!

                                         Eleazer Green, Mayor of Jamestown, NY, 1894-1896.

    This obituary of Eleazer Green Jr. appeared in the "The Grape Belt and Chautauqua Farmer" in 1933.

Portrait courtesy of Find-A-Grave.

  A decorated figure during the War of 1812, New Hampshire-born Eleazar Wheelock Ripley served one term in that state's legislature prior to his military service, and during the aforementioned hostilities saw action at the Battle of Lundy's Lane, the Second Battle of Sackett's Harbor and the Siege of Fort Erie. He would attain the rank of Major General by the time of his discharge and following his service removed to Louisiana, and in 1835 he began the first of two terms in the U.S House of Representatives. While much has been written about Ripley's military career since his death, this brief article will focus more on his political career than his time in the service.

  Receiving his name in honor of his maternal grandfather, Dartmouth College president Eleazer Wheelock (1711-1779), Eleazar Wheelock Ripley was born in Hanover, New Hampshire on April 15, 1782, the son of the Rev. Sylvanus and Abigail (Wheelock) Ripley. A  graduate of Dartmouth in the class of 1800, Ripley would begin a law practice in what is now Kennebec County, Maine, and in 1807 began his political career by winning a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Just 25 years old at the time of his service, he served until 1809 and won a second term in 1811, serving in the 1812 session as Speaker of the House. 

  Following this session Ripley would later have a brief turn as a state senator, resigning to accept a commission as Lieutenant Colonel in the 21st Infantry. His service in the War of 1812 would see him in action at the Battles of Sackett's Harbor, Crysler's Farm, and York, being wounded at the last-named battle. Ripley was promoted to Colonel in 1813 and Lieutenant Colonel the year following and further distinguished himself at the Battles of Lundy's Lane and the Siege of Fort Erie, where he was shot in the neck. In March 1814 he was brevetted Major General and in November of that year was bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal (a precursor to the Medal of Honor) for his service in the war.

  After resigning from the army in 1820 Ripley removed to East Feliciana, Lousiana, where he resumed the practice of law. He represented that area in the Louisiana state senate in 1832-33 and in 1834 was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first of two terms. He died in office on March 2, 1839, at age 56, and was later interred at the Locust Grove Cemetery in West Feliciana Parish. 

Portrait from the History of the Class of 1863, Yale College, 1905.

  A native of Connecticut, Eleazar Kingsbury Foster made his political mark in Florida, where he served as State's Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit and, later, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Born in New Haven on October 31, 1841, Foster was the son of Eleazar Kingsbury Foster and the former Mary Codrington. A distinguished figure in his own right, Eleazer K. Foster Sr. (1813-1877) was a leading lawyer and Yale graduate (class of 1834) who served multiple terms as a probate judge in New Haven and for a period of 22 years (1855-77) was State's Attorney for New Haven County. In addition to those offices, Foster would also serve two terms in the Connecticut legislature, being speaker of the house during the 1865-66 session.

  A student at the Collegiate and Commercial Insitute of New Haven, Eleazar K. Foster would, like his father, attend Yale University. Graduating in the class of 1863, Foster later studied law and was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1865. Out of health concerns, he left Connecticut for Florida in 1866, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. Following his removal Foster engaged in farming in St. Augustine and around 1867 entered into his first political office, having been named as the collector for the port of St. Augustine.

  In 1868 Foster was appointed as State's Attorney for Florida's 4th Judicial Circuit, serving until 1870, when he resigned due to ill health. By 1871 he had resettled in Jacksonville, where he resumed his law practice and married in November 1874 to Mary G. Benedict, to whom he was wed until his death. The couple would have three children, Eleazer Kingsbury (born 1875), Mary Benedict (born 1880), and Emma Harris (born 1882).

  Following his marriage, Foster and his family resided in Sanford, Orange County, Florida, and in 1881 achieved his highest degree of political prominence when he was appointed as State Superintendent of Public Instruction by Governor William D. Bloxham. Foster's tenure in that post extended until 1884, and during his term advocated that a "state uniform series of textbooks be adopted", and that county school superintendents "should keep proper records and make full and complete reports" to the Florida secretary of state. Period sources also relate that Foster "did much to elevate the educational standard of the state" by establishing new normal schools and teacher's institutes.

  Foster resigned as superintendent in 1884 and in the year following was appointed as circuit court judge for Florida's 7th judicial district, serving on the bench until his resignation in 1887. The latter years of Foster's life saw him practicing law in Sanford, as well as being retained as counsel for several Florida railroads. In 1899 Foster underwent the amputation of a leg and died at a New Haven hospital on December 8, 1899, aged 58. A burial location for both he and his wife remains unknown at this time.

Portrait from the Gazetteer of Grafton County, New Hampshire, 1886.

   A  member of both houses of the New Hampshire legislature from Grafton County, Eleazer Ball Parker was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire on December 10, 1818, the son of a multi-term state representative Levi (1792-1865) and Phebe (Ball) Parker. Young Eleazer attended school in Sugar Hill and later studied at a Newbury, Vermont seminary. He began teaching school at age 18 and in September 1841 married Esther Bowles (1818-1900), to whom he was wed until his death. The couple would have at least four children, including Osman, Phebe, Wilbur Fiske, and Freddie. 

  Following his marriage, Eleazer joined his brothers Silas and Pratt in a leather tannery business that later manufactured boots and shoes. He continued in that employ until his removal to Franconia in 1846, whereafter he operated a general merchandise store for several years. This business would later be operated by Parker's sons, under the firm name "Parker Brothers". In addition to that business, Eleazer Ball Parker was a timber dealer, a member of the Moody, Priest, and Co. potato starch manufacturing firm, and a past director of the Littleton, New Hampshire National Bank.

  Eleazer B. Parker entered the political life of Franconia in 1852 when he began a two-decade-long tenure as town clerk. He represented Franconia in the New Hampshire legislature from 1861-62 and from 1873-74 was a member of the state senate from the 12th senatorial district. Parker died in Franconia on March 12, 1884, aged 65, and was shortly thereafter interred at the Sunny Side Cemetery in that city.

Portrait courtesy of www.ci.greenbay.wi.us

  Another "Eleazer" that went on to political repute is Eleazer Holmes Ellis, a lifelong Wisconsin resident who in the early 1860s served as Mayor of Green Bay and was later a state circuit court judge for several years. Born in Preble, Michigan Territory (now Wisconsin) on August 26, 1826, Eleazer Holmes "E.H." Ellis was the son of newspaper editor Albert Gallatin Ellis, a publisher of the Green Bay Intelligencer, remarked as being the first newspaper to be published west of Lake Michigan. Albert Ellis would also distinguish himself in territorial politics, being a member of the Wisconsin Territorial legislature from 1841-43 and house speaker in two of those sessions.

  Young Eleazer's early education was obtained in both "pioneer schools" and private tutors hired by his father. Before Wisconsin gained statehood in 1848, Eleazer H. Ellis embarked upon the study of law under future Wisconsin Territorial Attorney General Henry S. Baird, known as the "father of the Wisconsin bar." Ellis was admitted to the bar in 1847 and in 1850 married in Green Bay to Harriett Sovina Gilbert. The couple were married for only four years before Harriett died in 1854 at age 23 and would have two sons, Albert Gallatin (1851-1888) and Gilbert (1852-1860). Following her death, Ellis remarried in 1858 in Illinois to Eliza Chappel, with whom he had a further seven children.

  E. H. Ellis began his law practice in Manitowoc, where he remained for two years. He would return to Green Bay in the mid-1850s and for many years afterward operated his law practice, both alone and with partners. In 1859 was elected as Mayor of Green Bay, serving for one term in 1860. He returned to public office in 1871 when he was elected as circuit court judge for Wisconsin's 10th judicial district and served eight years on the bench, retiring in 1879 to return to his law practice. In addition to his mayoralty and judgeship, Ellis also ran two unsuccessful candidacies for associate justice of the state supreme court in 1866 and 1891. 

  Following the death of his second wife in 1878 Ellis remarried in 1881 to Ruth Gillette, to whom he was wed until his death. Even in his twilight years, Ellis remained active in public service, being appointed as U.S. Postmaster of Green Bay in 1896. He served until 1900 and died in Green Bay on December 10, 1906, aged 80, and was interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery in that city.

From the Potter Enterprise, October 7, 1954.

  Potter County, Pennsylvania native Eleazer Peck Huntington had fleeting involvement in  Keystone State politics in the 1910s, being a one-term state representative (having earlier been an unsuccessful candidate for that body). A blacksmith, harness maker, and supply store owner in Coudersport, Huntington lost his life in a car accident at age 82, succumbing to his injuries at a local hospital. A lifelong Potter County native, Eleazer Peck Huntington was born in Bingham on June 9, 1872, the son of Frederick P. Huntington.

  Receiving his name in honor of his paternal grandfather, Methodist minister Eleazer Peck Huntington (1817-1887), young Eleazer studied at the Mansfield Normal School and following the completion of his school was engaged in several different vocations, including farming in Wyoming County, New York, carriage and harness-making, blacksmithing, and was the owner of the Eulalia Mills four and feed mill.

  In 1910 Huntington entered into the race for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Potter County, running as the Prohibition Party candidate. He would lose that election to Democrat Joseph Rumsey, who polled 1,953 votes to his own 228. Huntington attempted another run for the legislature in 1918 (this time on the Republican ticket) and was this time successful, besting Democrat August Lusk by a vote of 1,834 to 729.

  Taking his seat at the start of the 1919-21 session, Huntington was named to the committees on Centennial Affairs, Congressional Apportionment, Federal Relations, Forestry, and Game. He wasn't a candidate for renomination in 1920 and in 1922 married Blanche Swetland Bartoo (1885-1979), with whom he had two sons, Rupert (1923-1989)  and Samuel. Following his term, Huntington operated the Huntington Farm Supply Store and was an active Mason and parishioner at the Park Methodist Church.

  On October 1, 1954, Huntington lost control of a car he was driving on Dutch Hill in Coudersport and collided with a tree. He died of his injuries at a Coudersport hospital the following day and was subsequently interred at the Eulalia Cemetery in that city. Interestingly, this cemetery is also the resting place of Sobieski Ross (1828-1877), a two-term Pennsylvania congressman and Potter County judge.

From the 1899 Wyoming Senate composite photo.

   An obscure resident of Laramie County, Wyoming, Eleazer Smith Cady represented that county for two terms in the Wyoming Senate. Unfortunately, little information could be located on his life and career, hence why his profile here will be brief! Born in Swansea, Massachusetts on July 29, 1851, Eleazer S. Cady was the son of James Jerome and Experience (Smith) Cady. Inheriting his unusual name courtesy of his maternal grandfather, Eleazer Smith, Cady married in 1881 to Rhode Island native Amy Aldrich (1852-1929) and later had two children, Leo Melville (born 1886) and Excie Marguerite (born 1889).

  By the mid-1890s Cady had relocated to Laramie County, Wyoming, where in 1896 he was elected to the state senate. He served two terms (1897-1901) and following his service removed to Paonia, Colorado, where he was engaged as a building contractor. Widowed in 1929, Cady survived his wife by a decade and died in Colorado in 1939, aged 87. He was interred alongside his wife at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Paonia.