Elliot Cowdin

{{Redirect|Elliot Christopher Cowdin|the World War I aviator|Elliott Christopher Cowdin II}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Elliot Cowdin

| image = Elliot Christopher Cowdin I.png

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1819|08|08}}

| birth_place = Jamaica, Vermont, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1880|04|12|1819|08|08}}

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

| resting_place =

| other_names =

| occupation = Businessman, politician

| spouse = {{Marriage|Sarah Katharine Waldron|September 13, 1853}}

| children = 6

| awards =

| education =

| signature =

| party = Republican

| office = Member of the New York State Assembly

| term = 1877

| constituency = 11th District

}}

Elliot Christopher Cowdin I (August 8, 1819 - April 12, 1880) was an American businessman and politician. He served one term in the New York State Assembly in 1877, representing the 11th district.

Life

Elliot C. Cowdin was the son of Angier and Abiah (Carter) Cowdin. He born in on August 8, 1819, in Jamaica, Vermont, but grew up mainly in Boston, Massachusetts, where the family moved to after his father's death.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZToOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA127 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=XIV |publisher=James T. White & Company |pages=127–128 |year=1910 |access-date=2020-12-14 |via=Google Books}}

Cowdin became involved in the silk trade in the 1840s and, in 1852, he moved to New York City to establish his own business, Elliot C. Cowdin & Company, an importing firm that specialized in "ribbons, silks, flowers and other Paris novelties." The business had a branch office in Paris, France and Cowdin maintained a second home there. He was also active in politics; as a speaker and lecturer; and in several civic organizations, including the New York Chamber of Commerce, the New England Society of New York, the Bedford Farmers' Club, and the Union League, which he had helped to found.

Cowdin married Sarah Katharine Waldron (1827-1903), the daughter of Samuel W. and Martha (Melcher) Waldron, on September 13, 1853. They had six children: Katharine W., John Elliot, Martha G., Winthrop, Alice, and Elliot.

Elliot Cowdin died at his home in New York on April 12, 1880.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65324825/obituary-elliot-c-cowdin/ |title=Obituary: Elliot C. Cowdin |newspaper=New-York Tribune |page=5 |date=1880-04-13 |access-date=2020-12-14 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Political career

Cowdin held some appointed posts in government, including that of U.S. Commissioner to the Paris Expedition in 1867. He was also a member of the 100th New York State Legislature in 1877, elected to the New York State Assembly as a Republican representative of the 11th District (New York County). His interests as an Assemblyman, as indicated by the bills he introduced, included government reform, taxation and finance, and trade and commerce.{{cite web|title=Elliot Christopher Cowdin (finding aid)|url=http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc22723.htm|work=New York State Library|accessdate=24 March 2014}} Cowdin served just one term, declining afterward to run for reelection.{{cite news|title=Elliot C. Cowdin Dead |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1880/04/13/98895262.pdf|accessdate=24 March 2014|newspaper=New York Times|date=13 April 1880}}

References

External links

[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/cowart-cowpland.html#910.13.68 Elliot C. Cowdin] at The Political Graveyard
{{find a Grave|19147066}}
[https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00307/ Guide to the Report to the Department of State on Silk and Silk Manufacture 1868]

{{succession box|before=Charles A. Peabody, Jr.|title=New York State Assembly
New York County, 11th District |years=1877|after=William W. Astor}}

Category:1819 births

Category:1880 deaths

Category:People from Jamaica, Vermont

Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly

Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature