William Paulding Jr. (March 7, 1770 – February 11, 1854) was a

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from New York and the 56th and 58th Mayor of

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 ...

. He was the Adjutant General of New York for two non-consecutive terms.

Early life

Paulding was born in Philipsburgh (now Tarrytown) 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 ...

on March 7, 1770. He was the son of William Paulding Sr. (1735–1835) and the brother of Julia Paulding (wife of U.S. Representative William Irving) Catharine Paulding (wife of Mordecai Hale), and

James Kirke Paulding James Kirke Paulding (August 22, 1778 – April 6, 1860) was an American writer and, for a time, the United States Secretary of the Navy. Paulding's early writings were satirical and violently anti-British, as shown in ''The Diverting History of ...

, the

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

under President

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

. Paulding was a cousin of Revolutionary war hero

John Paulding John Paulding (October 16, 1758 – February 18, 1818) was an American militiaman from the state of New York during the American Revolution. In 1780, he was one of three men who captured Major John André, a British spy associated with the treas ...

, one of the captors of Major John André.

Career

He completed preparatory studies, studied law, was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

and commenced practice in New York. He was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

to the Twelfth Congress, holding office from March 4, 1811, to March 3, 1813, and was a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

of the

New York militia The New York Guard (NYG) is the state defense force of New York State, also called The New York State Military Reserve. Originally called the New York State Militia it can trace its lineage back to the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Th ...

. He served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

and was a delegate to the New York constitutional convention in 1821. Paulding was Adjutant General of New York. From 1824 to 1826 he was Mayor of New York City.

Personal life

Paulding was married to Maria Rhinehander (1784–1851), and commissioned Lyndhurst near Tarrytown, the extant mansion designed by

Alexander Jackson Davis Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis (July 24, 1803 – January 14, 1892), was an American architect, known particularly for his association with the Gothic Revival style. Education Davis was born in New York City and studied at ...

, later owned by merchant George Merritt, and railroad tycoon

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him ...

. Together, they were the parents of: * Frederick W. Paulding (1811–1858), the father of Julia Rhinelander Paulding who married Col.

Richard Irving Dodge Richard Irving Dodge (May 19, 1827 – June 16, 1895) was a colonel in the United States Army. Dodge was born in North Carolina and died after a long and successful career in the U.S. Army. He began as a cadet in 1844 and retired as a Colonel Ma ...

. He died in Tarrytown on February 11, 1854. He was buried in the Paulding family vault at the Old Dutch Burying Ground in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Legacy

Paulding Avenue in the

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, Williamsbridge, and Morris Park sections of

The Bronx 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 Y ...

is named after him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paulding, William Jr. 1770 births 1854 deaths 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American politicians People from Tarrytown, New York New York (state) lawyers American militiamen in the War of 1812 Mayors of New York City Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Adjutants General of New York (state) Brigadier generals People from New York (state) in the War of 1812