John Van Buren

He was born on February 18, 1810, in Hudson, Columbia County, New York, the second son of President Martin Van Buren and Hannah Hoes Van Buren.{{cite book |last=Raymond |first=William |date=1851 |title=Biographical Sketches of the Distinguished Men of Columbia County |url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalsket00raym |location=Albany, NY |publisher=Weed, Parsons and Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/biographicalsket00raym/page/97 97] |ref={{sfnRef|Biographical Sketches of the Distinguished Men of Columbia County}}}} (Some sources list his birth date as February 10.{{cite book |last1=Brogan |first1=Hugh |last2=Mosley |first2=Charles |date=1993 |title=American Presidential Families |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJF1AAAAMAAJ&q=%22john+van+buren%22+february+1810+1866 |location=Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK |publisher=Alan Sutton |page=309 |isbn=978-0-02-897305-0 |quote=John Van Buren, b. Hudson, New York, 10 or 18 Feb 1810.}}) He graduated from Yale College in 1828, studied law with Benjamin F. Butler and Aaron Vanderpoel, and attained admission to the bar in 1830.{{sfn|Biographical Sketches of the Distinguished Men of Columbia County}} In 1831, when Martin Van Buren was appointed U.S. Minister to Britain, John Van Buren accompanied him as secretary of the American Legation in London.{{sfn|Biographical Sketches of the Distinguished Men of Columbia County}} Both returned in 1832 after Congress failed to confirm the appointment.{{sfn|Biographical Sketches of the Distinguished Men of Columbia County}}

John Van Buren then opened a law practice with James McKown in Albany.{{cite magazine |last=Proctor |first=L. B. |date=1892 |title=Biographical Department: John Van Buren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsBLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA588 |magazine=Albany Law Journal: Supplement |volume=XLV |location=Albany, NY |publisher=Albany Law School |pages=31–37 }} Contemporaries said he had a remarkable memory and that "his success at the bar was great, but his fame as a lawyer has been dimmed by his wit and his wonderful ability as a politician."{{Cite book| last=Miller |first=Peyton F. |title=A Group of Great Lawyers of Columbia County, New York |publisher=Privately Printed |year=1904 |pages=184–196}} He returned to England on his own from 1838 to 1839.{{cite book |last=Watterson |first=Henry |date=1915 |title=History of the Manhattan Club: A Narrative of the Activities of Half a Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=he8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR27 |location=New York, NY |publisher=The Manhattan Club |page=xxvii |via=Google Books}} He had seats at Queen Victoria's coronation, attended the Queen's prorogue of Parliament, and earned the nickname "Prince John" from newspaper reporters after he danced with her at an 1838 ball.

On June 22, 1841, he married Elizabeth Vanderpoel (b. May 22, 1810), his childhood sweetheart and the niece of Aaron Vanderpoel.{{cite book |last=Talcott |first=Sebastian Visscher |date=2001 |orig-year=1883 |title=Genealogical Notes of New York and New England Families |volume=I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WdwNExWb7_QC&pg=PA334 |location=Bowie, MD |publisher=Heritage Books |pages=333–334 |isbn=978-0-7884-1956-0 |via=Google Books}} They had one daughter, Anna (1842–1923). Elizabeth Vanderpoel died on November 19, 1844, and Van Buren never remarried.{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/mava/learn/historyculture/john-van-buren.htm |title=John Van Buren |last=National Park Service |website=Martin Van Buren NHS |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior |location=Washington, DC |access-date=April 10, 2021}}

From 1845 to 1847, he served as New York State Attorney General, the last holder of that office elected by joint ballot of the Assembly and Senate, under the provisions of the state Constitution of 1821.{{cite web |url=https://www.nycourts.gov/history/legal-history-new-york/legal-history-eras-04/history-era-04-van-buren.html |title=John Van Buren, 1810-1866 |website=Legal History, 1847-1869 |publisher=Historical Society of the New York Courts |location=White Plains, NY |access-date=April 8, 2021}} In 1845, he conducted the prosecution of some leaders of the Anti-Rent War for riot, conspiracy, and robbery. The anti-renters were engaged in a long-running dispute with the heirs of Stephen Van Rensselaer, the patroon who owned their land. The tenants had lifetime leases; if they sold them, they were obligated to pay Van Rensselaer a year's rent or a quarter of the sale price. In addition, the Panic of 1837 left many in arrears on their rent. After Van Rensselaer's 1839 death, tenants withheld rent and "quarter-sale" payments in an effort to obtain favorable repayment terms. In addition, they organized to prevent sheriff's auctions of anti-renters' goods to pay the debts. Ambrose L. Jordan led the defense.{{cite book |last=Chester |first=Alden |date=1925 |title=Courts and Lawyers of New York: A History 1809-1925 |volume=III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYdOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1031 |location=New York, NY |publisher=American Historical Society |pages=1031–1032 |via=Google Books}} At the first trial the jury was deadlocked. At the re-trial, in September 1845, Jordan insulted Van Buren; Van Buren responded by punching the fifty-six-year-old defense counsel. Jordan's swing at Van Buren also connected, while defendant Smith A. Boughton ducked to avoid the attorney's blows.{{cite book |last1=Christman |first1=Henry M. |year=1961 |title=Tin Horns and Calico |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.49015001334987 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co. |pages=216–217 |via=HathiTrust}}

Presiding judge John W. Edmonds sentenced both attorneys to solitary confinement in the county jail for twenty-four hours: Governor Silas Wright refused to accept Van Buren's resignation, and both counsel continued after their release from jail. Boughton was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. At the next state election Governor Wright was defeated by John Young, who had the support of the Anti-Renters, and Young pardoned Boughton.

In December 1845, Wright directed Van Buren to work on an act to limit the tenure of the manor lords.{{cite book |last=Huston |first=Reeve |date=2000 |title=Land and Freedom: Rural Society, Popular Protest, and Party Politics in Antebellum New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Grw4f1N-GLwC&pg=PA155 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=155–158 |isbn=978-0-1980-3109-3 |via=Google Books}} The bill was the most radical reform considered by the New York State Legislature during the Anti-Rent years. After its passage, the death of a manor landlord extinguished a renter's lease. As a result, the landlords subdivided their large manor holdings for sale to individual farmers and homeowners or commercially developed them.

John Van Buren also prosecuted the case of William Freeman, who murdered four members of the Van Nest family of Cayuga County, New York on March 12, 1846.{{cite web |url=http://www.nycourts.gov/publications/benchmarks/issue6/Courthouse.shtml |title=Cayuga County Courthouse and the Case that Helped Establish the Insanity Defense in New York |work=Benchmarks: Journal of the New York State Unified Court System |date=Spring 2007 |access-date=August 5, 2013 |archive-date=February 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202205109/http://www.nycourts.gov/publications/benchmarks/issue6/Courthouse.shtml |url-status=dead }} The defense, led by William H. Seward, tried to prove that Freeman was insane and therefore could not stand trial, but a jury empaneled to consider the question disagreed, siding with Van Buren.{{cite web |url=https://www.nycourts.gov/history/legal-history-new-york/legal-history-eras-02/history-new-york-legal-eras-people-freeman.html |title=People v. William Freeman |website=Legal History, 1777-1846 |publisher=Historical Society of the New York Courts |location=White Plains, NY |access-date=April 8, 2021}} Another jury was then empaneled and the murder trial began. Freeman was found guilty on July 23, 1846, and the next day the judge sentenced him to hang on September 18. The execution was stayed, and in January 1847, an appeals court granted Freeman a new trial. Freeman died in his jail cell of tuberculosis on August 21, 1847, weeks before the retrial was to begin.

After the Freeman trial, Van Buren moved to New York City and formed a partnership with Hamilton W. Robinson. He acted as counsel for actor Edwin Forrest during Forrest's highly publicized divorce case, bringing Van Buren to public attention again.

Van Buren was an effective campaign speaker, especially with urban working class audiences.{{Cite book |last=Earle |first=Jonathan Halperin |title=Jacksonian antislavery & the politics of free soil, 1824-1854 |url=https://archive.org/details/jacksonianantisl00earl |url-access=limited |publisher=UNC Press |year=2004 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jacksonianantisl00earl/page/n181 167]–168}} In his speeches Van Buren frequently argued against slavery, calling it a degrading influence on free labor.

In 1848, Van Buren was the leader of the Barnburner faction of the Democratic Party, which repudiated the 1848 Democratic National Convention's selection of Lewis Cass, who was perceived as too friendly to slaveholders' rights.{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Alexander |date=1970 |title=A Review of the Political Conflict in America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQpwvYzluWcC&pg=PA119 |location=Westport, CT |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=119–121 |isbn=9780837135991 |via=Google Books}} The Barnburners met for a State Convention in Utica, New York on June 22 and nominated Martin Van Buren as their presidential candidate.{{cite book |last=Shepard |first=Edward Morse |author-link=Edward M. Shepard |date=1888 |title=American Statesmen Series: Martin Van Buren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FoozAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA362 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Riverside Press |pages=362–365 |via=Google Books}} On August 9, the National Convention of the Free Soil Party, held in Buffalo, New York, endorsed this nomination. Martin Van Buren had no expectation of winning, but his increasingly anti-slavery views caused him to oppose Cass, and he also hoped to exact a measure of revenge, since Cass was instrumental in denying Martin Van Buren the Democratic nomination in 1844. Martin Van Buren failed to win a single state, but won enough votes in New York to tip the state to Zachary Taylor, who won the White House as a result.

Many Free Soil members joined the Republican Party when it was formed in the mid-1850s, and in 1860 former Free Soiler Hannibal Hamlin was the successful Republican candidate for vice president.{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_Hannibal_Hamlin.htm |title=Hannibal Hamlin, 15th Vice President (1861-1865) |last=Historian of the U.S. Senate |website=United States Senate: Senate Historical Office |publisher=U.S. Senate |location=Washington, DC |access-date=April 8, 2021}} Though most former Free Soil members became Republicans because of the slavery issue, many including Martin and John Van Buren chose to return to the Democratic fold.{{cite book |last=Shepard |first=Edward Morse |author-link=Edward M. Shepard |date=1916 |title=America Statesmen: Martin Van Buren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MIpuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA434 |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |pages=434–439 |via=Google Books}}

In 1865, John Van Buren again ran for New York state Attorney General on the Democratic ticket, and was defeated by Republican John H. Martindale.{{cite news |date=December 19, 1865 |title=The New York Election -- Official Returns of the State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47017708/new-york-election/ |work=Buffalo Courier |location=Buffalo, NY |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com |ref={{sfnRef|}}}} After Van Buren's election defeat, he visited Europe accompanied by his daughter and niece. "They traveled extensively in England, Sweden, Norway and Russia." On October 13, 1866, Van Buren died from kidney disease while at sea near Cape Race, Newfoundland as he traveled from Liverpool to New York City aboard the steamship Scotia.{{cite news |date=October 17, 1866 |title=Death of John Van Buren |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47006176/death-of-john-van-buren/ |work=New-York Tribune |location=New York, NY |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com |ref={{sfnRef|"Death of John Van Buren"}}}} A storm set in after his death, and believing it was an omen, the Scotia's sailors tried to cast his body into the sea, but the captain would not allow it.{{cite news |date=November 9, 1866 |title=Superstition at Sea |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47006585/superstition/ |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location=Brooklyn, NY |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com}}

After the ship arrived in Manhattan, funeral services were held at Grace Church, where pallbearers included Samuel J. Tilden, Gouverneur Kemble, Alonzo C. Paige, Edwin W. Stoughton, Samuel L. M. Barlow, and James T. Brady, and mourners included Peter Cooper and Gulian C. Verplanck.{{cite news |date=October 25, 1866 |title=Funeral of John Van Buren |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47009426/john-van-buren-funeral/ |work=Tiffin Weekly Tribune |location=Tiffin, OH |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |date=October 20, 1866 |title=Funeral of John Van Buren |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47006299/john-van-buren-funeral/ |work=Buffalo Courier |location=Buffalo, NY |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} A second service took place at St. Peter's Church in Albany.{{cite web |url=http://albanyruralcemetery.blogspot.com/2012/04/prince-john-van-buren.html |title=Prince John Van Buren |last=Lemire |first=Paula |date=April 6, 2012 |website=Albany Rural Cemetery - Beyond The Graves |publisher=Paula Lemire |location=Albany, NY |access-date=April 10, 2021}} Van Buren was buried at Albany Rural Cemetery, Section 62, Box 28.{{cite web |url=https://albanyruralcemetery.org/search-arc/ |title=Search Results: John Van Buren |website=Albany Rural Cemetery.org |publisher=Albany Rural Cemetery |location=Menands, NY |access-date=March 20, 2020 |archive-date=March 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320151756/https://albanyruralcemetery.org/search-arc/ |url-status=dead }}

John Van Buren, the son of Martin Van Buren, is sometimes confused with judge and congressman John Van Buren of Kingston, Ulster County, New York.{{cite book |last=Wead |first=Doug |date=2003 |title=All the Presidents' Children |url=https://archive.org/details/allpresidentschi00wead |url-access=registration |location=New York, NY |publisher=Atria Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/allpresidentschi00wead/page/69 69] |isbn=978-0-7434-4631-0}} (Note: This reference is included as an example of how the John Van Buren who was Martin Van Buren's son is mistaken for the John Van Buren who was a Congressman from New York.){{cite book |last= Quinn-Musgrove |first=Sandra L. |date=1995 |title=America's Royalty: All the Presidents' Children |url=https://archive.org/details/americasroyaltya00quin_0 |url-access= registration |location=Westport, CT|publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americasroyaltya00quin_0/page/40 40]–42 |isbn=978-0-313-29535-5}} (Note: This reference is included as an example of how the John Van Buren who was Martin Van Buren's son is mistaken for the John Van Buren who was a Congressman from New York.) President Van Buren's son was born in 1810 and died in 1866.{{cite book |last= Miller |first=Richard F. |date= August 5, 2014|title=States at War, Volume 2: A Reference Guide for New York in the Civil War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PCv3AwAAQBAJ&q=%22john+van+buren%22+%221810%22+%221866%22&pg=PA383 |location=Lebanon, NH |publisher=University Press of New England |page=383 |isbn=978-1-61168-266-3}} John Van Buren of Kingston was born in 1799 and died in 1855.{{cite book |last= Napton |first=William Barclay |date=2005 |title=The Union on Trial: The Political Journals of Judge William Barclay Napton, 1829-1883 |url=https://archive.org/details/unionontrialpoli00napt |url-access= registration |location=Columbia, MO |publisher=University of Missouri Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/unionontrialpoli00napt/page/145 145] |isbn=978-0-8262-1571-0}} While both John Van Burens were active in New York's Democratic Party, President Van Buren's son never lived in Kingston, served as a judge, or was elected to Congress.{{cite news |title=Obituary: Death of John Van Buren |work=New York Times |date=October 17, 1866 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1866/10/17/83461054.pdf}}[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=V000015 John Van Buren] at [http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423082228/http://bioguide.congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp |date=April 23, 2010 }}

Van Buren was a man surrounded by innuendoes, even after his death. According to a legend still repeated in upstate New York, Van Buren lost $5,000,{{Inflation|US|5000|1866|fmt=eq}} and with it, his father's home Lindenwald, as well as a mistress, the very popular Elena "America" Vespucci, descendant of Amerigo Vespucci, to George Parish of Ogdensburg, New York in a card game at the LeRay Hotel in Evans Mills, New York.{{cite web |url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=3004 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: LeRay Hotel |date=September 1982 |access-date=December 10, 2009 |author=John Harwood |publisher=New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003032110/http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=3004 |archive-date=October 3, 2012 }} This story is almost certainly untrue, but it has remained associated with Van Buren.{{cite web |url= http://www.trivia-library.com/b/biography-of-adventurer-elena-america-vespucci-part-2.htm |title=Biography of Adventurer Elena America Vespucci (Part 2) |first1=David |last1=Wallechinsky |first2=Irving |last2=Wallace |work=Trivia Library |year=2013 |access-date=August 5, 2013}}

Van Buren has also been credited (possibly apocryphally) with a semi-humorous expression related to ballot stuffing, "Vote early and vote often".{{cite journal |date=February 15, 1883 |title=Flooring an Adversary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2EgxAQAAMAAJ&q=%22john+van+buren%22+%22vote+early%22&pg=PA61 |journal=The Youth's Companion |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Perry, Mason & Co. |page=61}}

• Family of Martin Van Buren
• John Van Buren (U.S. Representative)

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930014728/http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/state/his/bk12/ch7/pt4.html USgennet.org], NY history
• {{cite web |url= http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/valerius-vancamp.html |title=Index to Politicians: Valentino to Vancampen |work=The Political Graveyard }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071009183239/http://www.pgvhosting.com/demo/individual.php?pid=I1752&ged=presidents.ged PGVhosting.com], Van Buren Genealogy
• {{Cite news|title=Van Buren's Lindenwold |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/07/30/105963950.pdf |date=July 30, 1898 |work=The New York Times}} includes an account of the altercation at the trial.
• {{Cite book |last=Arpey |first=Andrew W. |title=The William Freeman Murder Trial: Insanity, Politics and Race |publisher=Syracuse University Press |location=Syracuse, New York |year=2003}}
• {{cite book|first=Franklin |last=Ellis |title=History of Columbia County, New York |publisher=Everts & Ensign |location=Philadelphia |year=1878 |pages=56–73 |url=http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/columbia/genhistcolco/chapt9_1878_hist.htm }}
• {{Cite news |title=Obituary: Death of John Van Buren |date=October 17, 1866 |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1866/10/17/83461054.pdf }}

• {{Gutenberg author|id=37991}}
• {{Internet Archive author}}

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{{succession box| before = George P. Barker | title = {{nowr|New York State Attorney General}} | years = 1845–1847 | after = Ambrose L. Jordan}}

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{{Attorneys General of New York}}

{{Martin Van Buren}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Buren, John}}

Category:1810 births

Category:1866 deaths

Category:American people of Dutch descent

Category:Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery

Category:Children of presidents of the United States

Category:Children of vice presidents of the United States

Category:Martin Van Buren

Category:New York State attorneys general

Category:New York (state) Democrats

Category:People from Hudson, New York

Category:People who died at sea

Category:Presidents of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York

John

John Van Buren

Category:Yale College alumni