Aaron B. Rollins (1818 – December 4, 1878) was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

for the 9th district of Manhattan from 1851 to 1853. He was the deputy

Sheriff of New York County, New York The New York City Sheriff's Office (NYCSO), officially the Office of the Sheriff of the City of New York, is the primary civil law enforcement agency for New York City. The Sheriff's Office is a division of the New York City Department of Fina ...

, from 1853 to 1859, and the

Coroner of New York County, New York The Coroner of New York City issued death certificates and performed autopsies and inquests for New York County, New York, for all homicides, suicides and accidental deaths and any suspicious deaths. The office served only Manhattan until 1 ...

, from 1867 to 1870.

Biography

He was born in 1818 in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He was first employed by a

drug store A pharmacy (also called drugstore in American English or community pharmacy or chemist in Commonwealth English) is a premises which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacist oversees the fulfillment of ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and later became the owner of the shop. In 1851 he was elected to the

for the Ninth District. In 1853 he was appointed as a Deputy Sheriff, occupying the office for a total of six years. During this time he gave up the drug business and devoted himself entirely to political affairs. Between 1860 and 1864, he was Water Purveyor for the

Croton Aqueduct The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water supply network, water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. The great aqueduct (water supply), aqueducts, which were among the first in t ...

. In 1867 he was elected

Coroner of New York City The Coroner of New York City issued death certificates and performed autopsies and inquests for New York County, New York, for all homicides, suicides and accidental deaths and any suspicious deaths. The office served only Manhattan until ...

, and served in that capacity for three years. His most important case was the murder of

Benjamin Nathan Benjamin Nathan (December 20, 1813 – July 28, 1870) was an American investor and philanthropist. He was bludgeoned to death in his home in 1870, and the notorious murder case remains unsolved despite several trials in the years following his d ...

on July 28, 1870. He died on December 4, 1878, at the Union-Place Hotel in Manhattan of a heart attack. He was buried in

Cypress Hills Cemetery Cypress Hills Cemetery is a non-sectarian/non-denominational cemetery corporation organized in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, the first of its type in the city. The cemetery is run as a non-profit organization and is lo ...

in Brooklyn.

Memberships

*The Hoboken Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rollins, Aaron B. 1818 births 1878 deaths Politicians from New York City Coroners of New York City Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Burials at Cypress Hills Cemetery Sheriffs of New York County, New York 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature