Hosea Moffitt

Hosea Moffitt (November 17, 1757 – August 31, 1825) was a U.S. Representative from New York.

Biography

Moffitt was born in Killingly, Connecticut, on November 17, 1757.^[1] During the Revolutionary War he served in the Albany County Militia as an Ensign and later Lieutenant of the 4th Regiment (Van Rensselaer's Regiment), also called the 2nd Rensselaerwyck Battalion.^[2]

Moffitt studied law and was admitted to the bar. In addition to practicing as an attorney, he was the Stephentown agent for Stephen Van Rensselaer, whose Manor of Rensselaerswyck included Stephentown. Moffitt was also an active businessman and banker.^[3]

He served on the local school board,^[4][5] was named a Justice of the Peace in 1791,^[6] and he was Town Clerk in 1791 and 1797.^[7] He served as member of the New York State Assembly from 1794 to 1798, and again from 1800 to 1801.^[8]

He remained in the militia after the Revolution, and attained command of a brigade and the rank of Brigadier General.^[9][10][11]

He was elected Town Supervisor and served from 1806 to 1809.^[12] From 1810 to 1811 he was Sheriff of Rensselaer County, New York.^[13][14][15]

Moffitt was elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1813 to March 3, 1817.^[16]

He was a trustee of the Stephentown Presbyterian Church, and was appointed to the board of managers of the Rensselaer County Bible Society in 1815.^[17]

He died in Stephentown on August 31, 1825^[18] and was interred at the Old Presbyterian Cemetery on "Presbyterian Hill" in the Stephentown hamlet of Garfield.^[19]

Sources

1. Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), entry for Hosea Moffitt, retrieved December 27, 2013
2. Jerry Kail, Who Was Who During the American Revolution, 1976, page 250
3. A. J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, From the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, 1880, page 22
4. Stephentown Genealogy, Schools, retrieved December 27, 2013
5. Weed, Parsons & Co., Laws of the State of New York, Volume IV, 1887, page 356
6. A. J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, From the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, 1880, page 7
7. Stephentown Genealogy, Stephentown's Officials, retrieved December 27, 2013
8. New York State Assembly, Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 75, Issue 7, 1852, pages 183-184
9. A. J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, From the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, 1880, page 130
10. George Baker Anderson, Landmarks of Rensselaer County, New York, 1897, page 82
11. Council of Appointment of the State of New York, Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment, Volume 1, 1901, page 876
12. Stephentown Genealogy, Stephentown's Officials, retrieved December 27, 2013
13. David Hackett Fischer, The Revolution of American Conservatism: The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy, 1965, page 305
14. Troy Times, A Rare Find: Friend of Former Trojan Discovers Old Newspaper in Trunk In London, January, 1921
15. Weed Parsons & Co., Civil List and Forms of Government of the Colony and State of New York, 1868, page 211
16. Weed, Parsons & Co., Civil List and Forms of Government of the Colony and State of New York, 1865, page 206
17. A. J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, From the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, 1880, page 25, page 132
18. Congressional Quarterly, Inc., Guide to the Congress of the United States, Volume 2, 1971, page 1270
19. Thomas E. Spencer, Where They're Buried, 1998, page 246

External links

• Hosea Moffitt at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Hosea Moffitt at Find a Grave
• Hosea Moffitt at The Political Graveyard