Philip Dorsheimer

Dorsheimer was born on April 15, 1797, in Wöllstein, then in the Mont-Tonnerre Department, which is now in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.{{cite book|last1=Schrader|first1=Frederick Franklin|title=The Germans In The Making Of America|date=2013|publisher=Read Books Ltd|isbn=9781473388963|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCN-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT106|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Nevins|first1=Allan|title=Fremont, Pathmarker of the West|date=1992|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0803283644|page=428|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0Qjsavhcv4C&pg=PA428|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}

He came to the United States in 1815, and settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.{{cite book|last1=Mingus|first1=Nancy Blumenstalk|title=Buffalo: Good Neighbors, Great Architecture|date=2003|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9780738524498|page=42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ahr9IfVtds0C&pg=PA42|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}} In 1826, he moved to Lyons, N.Y., and in April 1836 to Buffalo, New York.{{cite web|last1=LaChiusa|first1=Chuck|title=Dorsheimer House|url=http://buffaloah.com/a/del/434/|website=buffaloah.com|publisher=Buffalo Architecture and History|accessdate=10 October 2017}} He owned a hotel in Buffalo and became very wealthy.{{cite book|last1=Gates|first1=Lilian F.|title=After the Rebellion: The later years of William Lyon Mackenzie|date=1996|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=9781554880690|page=61|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GNaXwTY03v8C&pg=PA61|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}

In 1838, he was appointed Postmaster of Buffalo by President Martin Van Buren.{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Henry Perry|title=History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County: With ... Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers ...|date=1884|publisher=D. Mason & Company|page=527|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0ZOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA527|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}} On April 1, 1845, he was appointed again Postmaster of Buffalo by President James K. Polk.{{cite web|title=Dorsheimer Laboratory/Greenhouse - University Facilities {{!}} University at Buffalo|url=http://www.buffalo.edu/facilities/planning-design/building-profiles/north-campus.host.html/content/shared/university/page-content/facilities/dorshe.detail.html|website=www.buffalo.edu|publisher=University at Buffalo|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Polk|first1=James K.|title=The Diary of James K. Polk During His Presidency|date=2015|page=297|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkVjCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT297|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Buffalo Historical Society|title=Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society|date=1896|publisher=Bigelow Brothers|location=Buffalo, N.Y.|page=[https://archive.org/details/publicationsbuf02socigoog/page/n317 300]|url=https://archive.org/details/publicationsbuf02socigoog|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}} Following his appointment, George W. Clinton wrote to President Polk on April 9, 1845, indicating that there were reports that the people of Buffalo reacted unfavorably to Dorsheimer's appointment as postmaster.{{cite book|last1=Polk|first1=James Knox|title=Correspondence of James K. Polk: January-June 1845|date=1996|publisher=Univ. of Tennessee Press|isbn=9780870499470|page=528|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxmLh0gDfSoC&pg=PA528|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}

He had been always a Democrat, but joined the Republican Party upon its foundation.{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=James Grant|last2=Fiske|first2=John|title=Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Crane-Grimshaw|date=1898|publisher=D. Appleton|page=208|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8JBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA208|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}} He was a delegate to the 1856 Republican National Convention.{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Andrew|title=The Papers of Andrew Johnson: February-July 1866|date=1967|publisher=Univ. of Tennessee Press|isbn=9780870497643|page=771|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iNv4TroT2UcC&pg=PA771|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}{{cite news|last1=Dorshsimer|first1=Phillp|title=Letter from Hon, Phillp Dorshsimer|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1856/08/09/77055689.pdf|accessdate=10 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=August 9, 1856|language=en}} He was New York State Treasurer from 1860 to 1861. While treasurer, he hosted first lady-elect, Mary Todd Lincoln, in a suite at the Astor House while she was visiting New York.{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Frank J.|last2=Burkhimer|first2=Michael|title=The Mary Lincoln Enigma: Historians on America's Most Controversial First Lady|date=2012|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=9780809331253|page=149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0yWHxLJoPUQC&pg=PA149|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Mansch|first1=Larry D.|title=Abraham Lincoln, President-elect: The Four Critical Months from Election to Inauguration|date=2005|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786420261|page=107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMt-yrjVE50C&pg=PA107|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}} During the U.S. Civil War, as Treasurer, Dorsheimer, along with Governor Edwin D. Morgan, awarded the clothing firm of Brooks Brothers the contract for the manufacture of 12,000 Union army uniforms.{{cite book|last1=Brandes|first1=Stuart D.|title=Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America|date=2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=9780813157603|page=71|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PsAeBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}} From 1862 to 1864, he was Inland Tax Collector at Buffalo.{{cite news|title=OUR SPECIAL WASHINGTON DISPATCHES.; BUILDINGS FOR HOSPITALS. THE MAINE LAW TO BE ENFORCED. NO CROSSING THE POTOMAC. SEIZURE OF HORSES. PROPRIETARY STAMPS. TAX APPOINTMENTS FOR NEW-YORK FOR THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. FOR THE STATE OF OHIO. THE EXPORT OF MEDICINES TO SPAIN.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1862/09/01/355637872.pdf|accessdate=10 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=1 September 1862}}

On August 23, 1821,{{cite book|last1=Hocker|first1=Kristen|title=Marriage and Death Notices from the Harrisburg Chronicle, 1820-1834|date=2015|publisher=Lulu Press, Inc|isbn=9781312978898|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_lbCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT15|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}} he was married Sarah Gorgas (1802–1867). She was the daughter of Jacob Gorgas and Christina Maria (née Mack) Gorgas.{{cite book|last1=Gorgas|first1=Josiah|title=The Journals of Josiah Gorgas, 1857–1878|date=1995|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=9780817356026|page=264|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zt1_iA8UFhgC&pg=PA264|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}} Together, they were the parents of:{{cite book|last1=Widener|first1=Jay Carlton|title=The Sons of Catherine Weidner|date=1989|publisher=J.C. Widener|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7fkAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}

• Elizabeth Dorsheimer (1828–1915), who married Henry Clifton (1820-1877).{{cite book|title=The Ancestors of Ebenezer Buckingham, who was Born in 1748, and of His Descendants|date=1892|publisher=R. R. Donnelley & Sons|page=[https://archive.org/details/ancestorsebenez00tiltgoog/page/n223 198]|url=https://archive.org/details/ancestorsebenez00tiltgoog|accessdate=10 October 2017|language=en}}
• William Dorsheimer (1832–1888), who served as Lieutenant Governor of New York.{{cite news|title=WILLIAM DORSHEIMER DEAD.; HE EXPIRES IN SAVANNAH FROM PNEUMONIA AFTER A SHORT ILLNESS.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1888/03/28/archives/william-dorsheimer-dead-he-expires-in-savannah-from-pneumonia-after.html|accessdate=17 May 2017|work=The New York Times|date=28 March 1888}}
• Charles Dorsheimer (b. 1834)

Dorsheimer died on April 11, 1868. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

{{Reflist|30em}}

;Sources

• [http://www.archivaria.com/GdDbios/GdD7.html] Bios of German-Americans in Buffalo, with photo (giving as birthplace "Weistein", a misspelling of "Wollstein")
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/dorsh-dougher.html] Political Graveyard
• [http://genforum.genealogy.com/dorsheimer/messages/23.html] Dorsheimer genealogy (giving as birthplace "Dondersberg" - a variant spelling of Donnersberg, translated to Mont-Tonnerre in French, "Canton Wollstein" - cantons are the divisions of the départements)

• {{Find a Grave|118769712}}

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{{succession box | title = New York State Treasurer | before = Isaac V. Vanderpoel | after = William B. Lewis | years = 1860–1861}}

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Category:1797 births

Category:1868 deaths

Category:New York state treasurers

Category:Politicians from Buffalo, New York

Category:Immigrants to the United States

Category:People from Lyons, New York

Category:Politicians from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Category:New York (state) postmasters

Category:19th-century New York (state) politicians

Category:New York (state) Democrats

Category:New York (state) Republicans