Edwin Wallace Stoughton (May 14, 1818 – January 7, 1882) was an American lawyer and diplomat.

Biography

Edwin Wallace Stoughton was born in

Springfield, Vermont Springfield is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,062. History The land currently recognized as Springfield is the traditional land of the Pennacook and Abenaki people. One of the ...

on May 4, 1818. He was the son of Thomas Potwine Stoughton and Susan Bradley. At age 18 he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to study law, was admitted to the bar, and began a practice. Stoughton was a famed patent lawyer, most notably working for

Charles Goodyear Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844. ...

during Goodyear's lawsuits over his process for using heat and sulphur to process rubber (

Vulcanization Vulcanization (British: Vulcanisation) is a range of processes for hardening rubbers. The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of natural rubber with sulfur, which remains the most common practice. It has also grown to includ ...

). A member of the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party, during the

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

administration Stoughton published a treatise defending Grant's use of federal troops in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

during

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. After the disputed Hayes-Tilden presidential election of 1876 he defended Hayes' claim to the office, and was one of the lawyers who represented Hayes before the Electoral Commission appointed to settle the contest. When Hayes took office he displayed his gratitude by naming Stoughton Minister to Russia. He served in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

until becoming ill in 1879, when he resigned. Stoughton never fully recovered his health and lived in retirement until his death. He died in New York City on January 7, 1882. Former President Grant was one of the pallbearers at his funeral. He was buried at the Old South Church Cemetery in

Windsor, Vermont Windsor is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As the "Birthplace of Vermont", the town is where the Constitution of Vermont was adopted in 1777, thus marking the founding of the Vermont Republic, a sovereign state until 1791, when ...

Family

Edwin Wallace Stoughton was the brother of Henry Evander Stoughton, with whom he practiced law. He was the uncle of Edwin Henry Stoughton and Charles Bradley Stoughton, both of whom served as

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

generals during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. He was also the stepfather of philosopher and historian John Fiske.

References

External links

''This article integrates text in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

taken from the following source:'' * * 1818 births 1882 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Russia 19th-century American diplomats People from Springfield, Vermont 19th-century American lawyers {{US-diplomat-stub