Joseph Christopher Yates (November 9, 1768March 19, 1837) was an American lawyer, politician, statesman, and founding trustee of

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

. He served as 7th Governor of New York, from January 1, 1823 – December 31, 1824.

History

Born in 1768 in

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

in the

Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...

in the colonial era, Yates rose during the early Federal period after the United States gained independence in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He read the law with an established firm and passed the bar. He served as the mayor of

(beginning in 1798), being appointed successively to twelve one-year terms. In 1805 he was elected as a state senator, in 1808 as a State Supreme Court justice, and in 1823 as the seventh governor of New York (1823–1824). Yates is the only Governor of New York to have been born in Schenectady County, which was settled in the early Dutch colonial period. In his public life, Yates served also as a founding Trustee of

, established in 1795 in Schenectady. The private college became well known. Yates also served as President of the Schenectady Savings Bank. Yates was selected as a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

1828 Events January–March * January 4 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac succeeds the Comte de Villèle, as Prime Minister of France. * January 8 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized. * January 22 – Arth ...

. His residence in Schenectady, during the period when he served as governor, survives on Front Street near the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...

. It is a contributing property in the city's listed

Stockade Historic District The Stockade Historic District is located in the northwest corner of Schenectady, New York, United States, on the banks of the Mohawk River. It is the oldest neighborhood in the city, continuously inhabited for over 300 years. Union College fi ...

. As Governor, Yates sat for a portrait by

John Vanderlyn John Vanderlyn (October 18, 1775September 23, 1852) was an American neoclassicist painter. Biography Vanderlyn was born at Kingston, New York, and was the grandson of colonial portrait painter Pieter Vanderlyn. He was employed by a print-sell ...

, an American painter famed for his portrayals of such eminent political figures as

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, Aaron Burr,

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...

, George Clinton,

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

and

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

. The painting is owned by the City of New York.Joseph Christopher Yates (1768-1837), (painting)
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Family

Joseph was born to Christopher "Colonel Stoeffel" Yates and his wife Jannetje Bradt in the autumn of 1768. In the course of his life he married three times: the first was said to be for love: Ann, widow of James Ellice ; the second was for money, Maria, daughter of John Kane and his wife; and the last was for clout, as he required her connections to further his ambitious political career, Elizabeth De Lancey, a daughter of John De Lancey and his wife, of

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

. Yates had three children, all daughters: Helen Maria, the oldest, was born on September 28, 1797. She later married Colonel John K. Paige and died January 25, 1829. Anna Alida was born September 14, 1806, and married John D. Watkins, a resident of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Jane Josepha was born November 6, 1811, and married Samuel Neil of New York.

Death and legacy

Joseph C. Yates died on March 19, 1837. He was buried in a family cemetery in

Schenectady County, New York Schenectady County () is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,061. The county seat is Schenectady. The name is from a Mohawk language word meaning "on the other side of the pine lands," a te ...

. In 1889, his youngest daughter, Jane (Yates) Neil, arranged to reinter the remains of her father Joseph and those of several other Yates family members to her husband's Neil family mausoleum in the churchyard of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in

Bronx County, New York The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Yo ...

. The Neil family mausoleum has no indication that Gov. Yates is interred there. Yates County, New York and the Town of Yates are named after former Governor Yates.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Joseph Christopher Governors of New York (state) 1768 births 1837 deaths American Presbyterians New York (state) Democratic-Republicans 1828 United States presidential electors Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States Mayors of Schenectady, New York De Lancey family 18th-century American politicians 19th-century American politicians