Richard Franchot
{{short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Richard Hansen Franchot
|image = Richard H. Franchot (New York Congressman).jpg
|alt =
|caption =
|state = New York
|district = 19th
|term_start = March 4, 1861
|term_end = March 3, 1863
|predecessor = James H. Graham
|successor = Samuel F. Miller
|birth_date = {{birth date|1816|6|2}}
|birth_place = Morris, New York, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|1875|11|23|1816|6|2}}
|death_place = Schenectady, New York, U.S.
|resting_place = Vale Cemetery
|party = Republican
|children = {{unbulleted list| Nicholas Van Vranken Franchot | Stanislaus P. Franchot}}
|allegiance = United States (Union)
|branch = U.S. Army Infantry Branch
|serviceyears = 1862
|unit = Union Army
|rank = Colonel
Brigadier General (Brevet)
|commands = 121st New York Infantry
|battles = American Civil War
}}
Richard Hansen Franchot (June 2, 1816 – November 23, 1875) was a U.S. Representative from New York and then an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was also an executive of two railroad companies, Albany and Susquehanna Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad.
Biography
Franchot was born in the town of Morris, Otsego County, New York, the son of French immigrant Paschal Franchot.{{cite book |last=Bacon |first=Edwin Faxon |date=1902 |title=Otsego County, New York; Geographical and Historical |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tccxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA56 |location=Oneonta, NY |publisher=The Oneonta Herald |page=56 |via=Google Books}} He attended the public schools and the Hartwick and Cherry Valley Academies. He studied civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. He served for several years as president of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad.
Franchot was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1862.
He moved to Schenectady, New York, and raised the 121st New York Infantry.[http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/historic/reghist/civil/infantry/121stInf/121stInfMain.htm 121st Infantry Regiment History], New York State Military Museum. Franchot was commissioned as a colonel on August 23, 1862, and was brevetted as a brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers dating from March 13, 1865.
After the war, he was associated with the Central Pacific Railroad.
Franchot died in Schenectady on November 23, 1875. He was interred in Vale Cemetery.
Family
New York Superintendent of Public Works Nicholas Van Vranken Franchot (1855–1943) and State Senator Stanislaus P. Franchot (1851–1908) were his sons, Assemblyman Nicholas V. V. Franchot II (1884–1938) was his grandson, actor Franchot Tone (1905-1968) was his great-grandson, and former Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot (1947–) is also his descendant.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{CongBio|F000334}} Retrieved on 2008-11-01
- {{Find a Grave|8947|accessdate=2008-11-01}}
- [http://antietam.aotw.org/officers.php?officer_id=225 Antietam: Colonel Richard Hansen Franchot]
- [http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/18046.htmlFranchot Family of Morris and Niagara Falls, New York]
Further reading
- Becker, Alfred LeRoy. [https://archive.org/details/ancestorsofnicho00beck/page/n31 The Ancestors of Nicholas Van Vranken Franchot (1941)]
{{Bioguide}}
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{{US House succession box
| state= New York| district= 19
| before= James H. Graham| after= Samuel F. Miller
| years= 1861–1863}}
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Category:American people of French descent
Category:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni
Category:People of New York (state) in the American Civil War
Category:Politicians from Schenectady, New York
Category:19th-century American railroad executives
Category:People from Morris, New York
Category:19th-century New York (state) politicians
Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives