George Opdyke (December 7, 1805 – June 12, 1880) was an entrepreneur and the 76th Mayor of New York City (1862 to 1864) 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 ...

. The

New York City draft riots The New York City draft riots (July 13–16, 1863), sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of white working-cla ...

occurred during his tenure.

Early life

Opdyke was born on December 7, 1805 in Kingwood Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He was the sixth of nine children born to George Opdyke (1773–1851) and Mary E. ( née Stout) Opdyke (1773–1834). At sixteen years old, after attending the district school when he could and working on the family farm, he became a teacher in one of the neighboring school districts, teaching in Hunterdon County for two years.

Career

During the 1820s, after his two-year stint as a teacher in New Jersey, Opdyke began his business career by traveling West to Cleveland, Ohio where he opened a successful clothing store. He later transferred his business to

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, staying there until 1832. After giving up his business in New Orleans, he moved to New York and established himself as an importer of woolen goods. His company eventually became the largest clothing manufacturing and merchandiser in the area. In 1868, he gave up the clothing business and turned to banking, becoming well known and prominent as a banker in New York. After serving as mayor of New York, he served as the first president of the

Fourth National Bank of New York The Fourth National Bank of New York was an American bank based in New York City. History The Fourth National Bank of New York was organized in January 1864. At the time of its organization, many, including Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Ch ...

Political career

Until 1848, Opdyke was a Democrat, although he "took no conspicuous part in the affairs of that party." He left the party to become a delegate to the Buffalo

Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery int ...

convention in 1848, and served on its committee on resolutions, as well as standing as a candidate for the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

on the Free Soil ticket in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. When the Free Soil party merged with the Republican Party, he joined with it on its anti-

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

platform. In 1856, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the New York State Assembly. In

1859 Events January–March * January 21 – José Mariano Salas (1797–1867) becomes Conservative interim President of Mexico. * January 24 ( O. S.) – Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexandru Ioan Cuza (Romania since 1866, final ...

, he was a member of the New York State Assembly (New York Co., 14th D.), and was a member of the Committee on Banks and chairman of the Committee on Insurance. He was also a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention, where he played a role in the nomination of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. With

John Adams Dix John Adams Dix (July 24, 1798 – April 21, 1879) was an American politician and military officer who was Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of New York and Union major general during the Civil War. He was notable for arresting the pro-Souther ...

and Richard Milford Blatchford, he formed the Union Defense Committee, empowered by President

to spend public money during the initial raising and equipping of the Union Army. In 1861, he was elected to a two-year term as mayor of New York City over incumbent mayor

Fernando Wood Fernando Wood (February 14, 1812 – February 13, 1881) was an American Democratic Party politician, merchant, and real estate investor who served as the 73rd and 75th Mayor of New York City. He also represented the city for several terms in ...

of the Mozart Hall faction of the Democracy and

William Frederick Havemeyer William Frederick Havemeyer (February 12, 1804 – November 30, 1874) was a German American businessman and politician who served three times as Mayor of New York City during the 19th century. Early years Havemeyer was born in Staten Island, Ne ...

of the

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

wing. As mayor, Opdyke recruited and equipped troops for the war and responded to draft riots of July 1863. His term in office ended in 1863, and he was succeeded by Democrat Charles Godfrey Gunther, who had also been Opdyke's opponent in 1861.

Personal life

Opdyke was married to Elizabeth Hall Stryker (1805–1891), a daughter of Peter Stryker and Kezia (née Davis) Stryker. Together, they were the parents of: * Mary Elizabeth Opdyke (1834–1907), who married George W. Farlee. * William Stryker Opdyke (1836–1922), who married Margaret Elizabeth Post (1834–1911) in 1863. * Charles Wilson Opdyke (1838–1907), who married Jane Wandling Creveling (1843–1871). * Henry Beach Opdyke (1841–1919), who married Marian Blagden Whiton (1848–1903). * Samuel T. Opdyke (1846–1851), who died young. Opdyke died at his home, 1 East 47th Street in New York City on June 12, 1880. He was buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.

Descendants

Through his daughter Mary, he was a grandfather of Lilian Gray Farlee (1859–1894), who married Dr. Charles Loomis Dana, a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of nervous and

mental disease A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

at Cornell Medical College, in 1882.

References

External links

Mr. Lincoln and New York: George Opdyke''Biographical Sketches of the State Officers and Members of the Legislature in the State of New York in 1859''
by Wm. D. Murphy (pages 202f; C. Van Benthuysen, Albany NY, 1859) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Opdyke, George 1805 births 1880 deaths Mayors of New York City People of New York (state) in the American Civil War American people of Dutch descent People from Kingwood Township, New Jersey Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly 19th-century American politicians