Peter Henry Silvester (February 17,1807 –November 29,1882) was a U.S. Representative from New York in the 30th and 31st United States Congress. Silvester was the grandson of prominent attorney and former U.S. Congressmen,Peter Silvester.
Silvester was born on February 17,1807,in Kinderhook,New York. He was the only son of Francis Silvester (1767–1845) and Lydia Van Schaack,a niece of Peter van Schaack and a descendant of the Schuyler family. [1] [2] He was the grandson of Peter Silvester (1734–1808) and his wife,Jane Van Schaack. [3] Silvester attended Kinderhook Academy,and graduated from Union College,Schenectady,New York,in 1827. He studied law,was admitted to the bar in 1830 and practiced in Coxsackie,New York. [4]
He was originally a member of the Democratic-Republican Party,and joined the National Republicans and then the Whigs. [4]
Silvester was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congresses (March 4,1847 –March 3,1851). He did not run for reelection in 1850 and resumed practicing law. Like most Whigs,Silvester became a Republican when the party was organized in the mid-1850s. In 1860 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House,losing narrowly to John B. Steele. [4]
Silvester married Catherine Susan Bronk (d. 1858),the daughter of John Leonard Bronk and Alida Conine,and born in Coxsackie. She attended Troy Seminary in Troy New York. Her father was a lawyer and Columbia College graduate. [5] Together,Silvester and Bronk had four children,of which two survived to adulthood: [5]
Silvester later retired to one of his farms in Coxsackie,where he lived until his death on November 29,1882. [8] He was interred in Kinderhook Cemetery,along with his family.
Martin Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States,serving from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party,he served as New York's attorney general and U.S. senator,then briefly as the ninth governor of New York before joining Andrew Jackson's administration as the tenth United States secretary of state,minister to Great Britain,and ultimately the eighth vice president from 1833 to 1837,after being elected on Jackson's ticket in 1832. Van Buren won the presidency in 1836 against divided Whig opponents. Van Buren lost re-election in 1840,and failed to win the Democratic nomination in 1844. Later in his life,Van Buren emerged as an elder statesman and an anti-slavery leader who led the Free Soil Party ticket in the 1848 presidential election.
Kinderhook is a town in the northern part of Columbia County,New York,United States. The population was 8,330 at the 2020 census,making it the most populous municipality in Columbia County. The name of the town means "Children's Corner" in the language of the original Dutch settlers (Kinderhoek). The name "Kinderhook" has its root in the landing of Henry Hudson in the area around present-day Stuyvesant,where he was greeted by Native Americans with many children. With the Dutch kind meaning "child" and hoek meaning "corner",it could be that the name refers to a bend in the river where the children are. The eighth president of the United States,Martin Van Buren,was born in Kinderhook and retired to it.
Fernando Cortez Beaman was a teacher,lawyer and politician from Michigan during and after the American Civil War. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and as mayor of Adrian,Michigan.
James Gore King was an American businessman and Whig Party politician who represented New Jersey's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for one term from 1849 to 1851.
Abraham Yates Jr. was an American lawyer,civil servant,and pamphleteer from Albany,New York.
Peter Silvester was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York,and a prominent Federalist attorney in Kinderhook. He was a mentor to Martin Van Buren,the 8th President of the United States and was the grandfather of New York Representative Peter Henry Silvester.
Cornelius Peter Van Ness was an American politician and diplomat who served as the tenth governor of Vermont from 1823 to 1826 and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Spain from 1829 to 1836. Van Ness was a Democratic-Republican and later a Democrat.
James Isaac Van Alen was an American politician from Kinderhook,New York. A Democratic-Republican,he served as a United States representative,a member of the New York State Assembly,and Surrogate Judge of Columbia County,New York. Van Alen was the elder half brother and law partner of U.S. President Martin Van Buren.
Peter Van Schaack was an American lawyer,born in Kinderhook,New York. He studied law at King's College;was a successful and well-respected colonial lawyer;collected,revised,and digested the laws of the Colony of New York from 1691 to 1773;and operated one of the first law schools in the United States.
Philip Arnold Goodwin was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.
Eliakim "E. P. Walton" Persons Walton was an American journalist,editor and politician. He served as a U.S. Representative from Vermont.
Aaron Vanderpoel was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York for three terms. He served from 1833 to 1837,and again from 1839 to 1841.
Aaron Van Schaick Cochrane was a U.S. Representative from New York,and nephew of Isaac Whitbeck Van Schaick.
Guy Ray Pelton was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He served as a U.S. Representative to the 34th United States Congress.
Killian Miller was a U.S. Representative from New York.
Thomas Beekman was an American politician and a U.S. Representative from New York.
William Esselstyne Lansing was a U.S. Representative from New York during the American Civil War.
Isaac Whitbeck Van Schaick was an American businessman and Republican politician. He served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives,representing Milwaukee County,Wisconsin. He also served six years in the Wisconsin State Senate and two years in the State Assembly. His nephew,Aaron Van Schaick Cochrane,was also a member of congress.
John Ely was an American physician and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1839 to 1841.
Samuel Prentiss was an associate justice and chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court,a United States senator from Vermont and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont.