Daniel G. Garnsey

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Daniel G. Garnsey

| image = Daniel Greene Garnsey.jpg

| caption= Daniel G. Garnsey, watercolor miniature, 1828.

|birth_name=

| birth_date = {{birth date|1779|06|17}}

| birth_place = New Lebanon, New York, U.S.

| death_date={{death date and age|1851|05|11|1779|06|17}}

| death_place=Gowanda, New York, U.S.

| residence=

| occupation= Attorney

| alma_mater=

| state = New York

| district= 30th

| term_start= March 4, 1825

| term_end= March 3, 1829

| preceded = Albert H. Tracy

| succeeded = Ebenezer F. Norton

| party = Adams Republican (While in Congress)

| religion =

| spouse = Lucy Hudson (1779–1870)

| children = 8

}}

Daniel Greene Garnsey (June 17, 1779 – May 11, 1851) was an American politician from New York, Michigan and Illinois.

Early life

Garnsey was born in the part of the Town of Canaan, New York which is now New Lebanon on June 17, 1779.{{cite book |last= Buell |first= Nathan Deloss |date= 1989 |title= Descendants of William Buell, Who Came to America from England about 1631 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DTs7AAAAMAAJ&q=%22daniel+greene+garnsey%22+1779 |location= Beaverton, OR |publisher= N. D. Buell |page= 108 |isbn= 9780962475900 |access-date= August 28, 2014}}{{cite book |date= 1975 |title= Who Was Who in American History: the Military |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rjQOAQAAMAAJ&q=garnsey |location= Wilmette, IL |publisher= Marquis Who's Who |page= 196 |isbn= 9780837932019|access-date= August 28, 2014}} He was the son of Isaac B. Garnsey (1758–1824) and Elizabeth (Spier) Garnsey (1754–1838). On April 26, 1803, he married Lucy Hudson (1779–1870) in Troy, and they had eight children.{{cite book |last= Buell |first= Nathan Deloss |date= 1989 |title= Descendants of William Buell, Who Came to America from England about 1631 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DTs7AAAAMAAJ&q=%22daniel+greene+garnsey%22+1779 |location= Beaverton, OR |publisher= N. D. Buell |page= 108 |isbn= 9780962475900 |access-date= August 28, 2014}} Later he moved to Halfmoon.

Military service

Garnsey joined the New York State Militia in 1805. He was Brigade Inspector of Saratoga County from 1810 to 1811, fought as a major in the War of 1812, and was Brigade Inspector of Chautauqua County in 1817.{{cite book |last= Hastings |first= Hugh |date= 1901 |title= Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the State of New York, Volume II |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1PV4AAAAMAAJ&q=%22daniel+g.+garnsey%22+militia&pg=PA1119 |location= Albany, New York |publisher= James B. Lyon, State Printer |pages= 1119, 1470, 1780 |access-date= August 28, 2014}}{{cite book |date= 1975 |title= Who Was Who in American History: the Military |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rjQOAQAAMAAJ&q=garnsey |location= Wilmette, IL |publisher= Marquis Who's Who |page= 196 |isbn= 9780837932019|access-date= August 28, 2014}}

Career

He studied law in Norwich, was admitted to the bar in 1811 and practiced in Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. Originally a member of the Federalist Party,{{cite book |date= 1904 |title= The Centennial History of Chautauqua County |url= http://www.dunkirkhistoricalmuseum.org/sg_userfiles/earlyhistoryofdunkirk.pdf |location= Jamestown, N.Y. |publisher= Chautauqua History Company |page= 425 |access-date= August 26, 2014 |archive-date= August 27, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140827124552/http://www.dunkirkhistoricalmuseum.org/sg_userfiles/earlyhistoryofdunkirk.pdf |url-status= dead }} he served in local and judicial office, including justice of the peace, inspector of the common schools, Master in Chancery and Saratoga County Surrogate.{{cite book |last= Alden |first= Chester |date= 1911 |title= Legal and judicial history of New York, Volume 3 |url= https://archive.org/details/legalandjudicia00chesgoog |quote= daniel g. garnsey surrogate saratoga. |location= New York |publisher= National Americana Society |page= [https://archive.org/details/legalandjudicia00chesgoog/page/n313 168] |access-date= August 28, 2014}}{{cite book |last=Sylvester |first= Nathaniel Bartlett |date= 1878 |title= History of Saratoga County, New York: With Illustrations Biographical Sketches of Some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers |url= https://archive.org/details/historyofsaratog00sylv |location= Philadelphia |publisher=Everts & Ensign |pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyofsaratog00sylv/page/84 84], 86, 179, 348}}

In 1816, he moved to the area in the Town of Pomfret which later became the Village of Dunkirk. He was Surrogate of Chautauqua County from 1819 to 1821, and District Attorney from 1818 to 1826.

Garnsey was elected as an Adams candidate{{cite book |last= Moore |first= Charles W. |date= April 1929 |title= The Amaranth, Or Masonic Garland |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=V4U3AQAAMAAJ&q=%22daniel+g.+garnsey%22+%22adams+men%22&pg=PA29 |location= Boston |publisher= Moore & Sevey |page= 29 |access-date= August 26, 2014 }}{{cite journal |author= |title= List of Congressional Representatives from New York, 1789-2012 |url= http://www.plattsburgh.edu/files/596/files/new%20york.pdf |publisher= State University of New York at Plattsburgh |date= 2012|access-date= August 27, 2014}} to the 19th and 20th United States Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1829. In 1828, he ran unsuccessfully for re-election as an independent candidate with the support of the Anti-Masonic Party, even though he had been a Mason himself.{{cite news|title=For Congress |url=http://www.rrlcnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84035849/1828-12-24/ed-1/seq-2/ |work=Geneva Gazette |location=Geneva, N.Y. |date=December 24, 1828 |access-date=27 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903095627/http://www.rrlcnewspapers.org/lccn/sn84035849/1828-12-24/ed-1/seq-2/ |archive-date=2014-09-03 |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |author= |title= Illinois State Journal Index, Fund-Nichols |url= http://www2.illinois.gov/alplm/library/collections/newspaper/Documents/Journal-Index-1-Fund-Nichols.pdf |location= Carbondale, Illinois |publisher= Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Eastern Illinois University |page= 299 |access-date= August 27, 2014 |archive-date= September 3, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140903203734/http://www2.illinois.gov/alplm/library/collections/newspaper/Documents/Journal-Index-1-Fund-Nichols.pdf |url-status= dead }}

During the 1828 campaign, when Anti-Masons were considering whether to support John Quincy Adams for reelection as president, Garnsey wrote a letter to Adams to ask whether he was a Mason. Adams replied that he was not a Mason, but had known several individuals who were, including George Washington, and had no negative comments about them. Garnsey's letter and Adams' reply were made public in Anti-Masonic newspapers. Because Adams' opponent Andrew Jackson was a Mason, while Adams was not, Anti-Masons supported Adams.{{cite news |title= Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in Union County, Pa. |url= http://contentdm1.accesspa.org/cdm/ref/collection/sstlp-newsp/id/8914 |work= The State's Advocate |location= Milton, PA |date= July 31, 1828 |access-date= 27 August 2014 |archive-date= 3 September 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140903134434/http://contentdm1.accesspa.org/cdm/ref/collection/sstlp-newsp/id/8914 |url-status= dead }}

In 1831, Garnsey moved to Battle Creek, Michigan. He was Postmaster, and Government Superintendent of Public Works near Detroit and Ypsilanti. He served with Winfield Scott in the Black Hawk War in 1832.

Garnsey became a Whig when the party was founded in the 1830s, and he was a supporter of the presidential candidacies of Henry Clay and William Henry Harrison.{{cite book |date= 1904 |title= The Centennial History of Chautauqua County |url= http://www.dunkirkhistoricalmuseum.org/sg_userfiles/earlyhistoryofdunkirk.pdf |location= Jamestown, N.Y. |publisher= Chautauqua History Company |page= 425 |access-date= August 26, 2014 |archive-date= August 27, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140827124552/http://www.dunkirkhistoricalmuseum.org/sg_userfiles/earlyhistoryofdunkirk.pdf |url-status= dead }}{{cite book |last= Thompson |first= Charles Manfred |date= 1915 |title= The Illinois Whigs Before 1846 |url= https://archive.org/details/illinoiswhigsbe00thomgoog |quote= daniel g. garnsey whig. |location= Champaign, Illinois |publisher= University of Illinois |page=[https://archive.org/details/illinoiswhigsbe00thomgoog/page/n76 66]|access-date= August 26, 2014}}

He later moved to Rock Island, Illinois. On March 22, 1841, he was appointed by Harrison as Receiver of Public Moneys at the Land Office in Dixon, Illinois, and served until removed by President John Tyler on August 25, 1843. When Harrison died in 1841 after only a few weeks in office, Garnsey was one of the official pallbearers at Harrison's funeral.{{cite book |last= Richardson |first= James D. |date= 1909 |title= A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the President, 1789-1908, Volume 4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CUJDAAAAYAAJ&q=garnsey+pallbearer+%22william+henry+harrison%22&pg=PA29 |location= Washington, D.C. |publisher= Bureau of National Literature and Art |page= 29 |access-date= August 27, 2014}}

Death and burial

Garnsey died suddenly in Gowanda, New York on May 11, 1851{{cite book |last= Leonard |first= I. R. |date= August 8, 1898 |title= Historical Sketch of the Village of Gowanda, N.Y., in Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of its Incorporation |url= https://archive.org/stream/historicalsketch00leon#page/34/mode/2up/search/garnsey |location= Buffalo |publisher= Matthews-Northrup Co. |page= 34 |access-date= August 28, 2014}} while traveling from his daughter's home in Philadelphia to Dunkirk, where he was planning to attend the celebration of the completion of the Erie Railroad.{{cite book |date= 1904 |title= The Centennial History of Chautauqua County |url= http://www.dunkirkhistoricalmuseum.org/sg_userfiles/earlyhistoryofdunkirk.pdf |location= Jamestown, N.Y. |publisher= Chautauqua History Company |page= 425 |access-date= August 26, 2014 |archive-date= August 27, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140827124552/http://www.dunkirkhistoricalmuseum.org/sg_userfiles/earlyhistoryofdunkirk.pdf |url-status= dead }} He was buried at the Pine Hill Cemetery in Gowanda.{{cite book |last= Spencer |first= Thomas E.|date= 1998 |title= Where They're Buried |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eLWao2lIGTEC&q=%22garnsey+daniel+greene%22+1779&pg=PA239 |location= Baltimore |publisher= Genealogical Publishing Co. |page= 239 |isbn= 9780806348230|access-date= August 28, 2014}}

Note

Some sources indicate that Garnsey served in Congress as a Jacksonian. These sources seem to be incorrect, given that contemporary sources from the time of Garnsey's career indicate that he was a Federalist, and then an Adams Republican, and that he later became affiliated with the Anti-Masons and then the Whigs.

References

Sources

[https://books.google.com/books?id=E3sFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA71 The New York Civil List] compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 71f, 371 and 412; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
[https://books.google.com/books?id=gE1PAAAAMAAJ&q=gowanda The Garnsey-Guernsey Genealogy] by Eva Louise Garnsey Card, Howard Abram Guernsey & Judith L. Young-Thayer (page 299)
[http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/l/a/d/Steven-J-Laden/GENE6-0009.html#CHILD33554691 Garnsey genealogy] at Family Tree Maker