Asa Adgate (November 17, 1767February 15, 1832) was an iron manufacturer, farmer, and local government official who was selected to fill the vacancy in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

caused by the death of

Benjamin Pond Benjamin Pond (1768October 6, 1814) was a United States representative from New York (state), New York. Early life He was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Stockbridge in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1768. He attended the common school ...

Biography

Adgate was born in Kings District (now known as Canaan) in the

Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

in 1767, the son of Judge Matthew Adgate and Eunice Baldwin Adgate. He married Annar (Anna) Allen on January 28, 1798, and they had four children, Theodore, Julia, Eunice, and Asa. He married Anna Waterman on August 22, 1819, and they had one daughter, Catherine.

Career

In 1793, Adgate moved to what became known as Adgates Falls (now

Ausable Chasm Ausable Chasm is a sandstone Canyon, gorge and tourist attraction located near the hamlet of Keeseville, New York (state), New York, United States, due west of Port Kent, New York, Port Kent. The gorge is about long and is about deep. Ausable ...

) in New York, and engaged in the manufacture of iron and agricultural pursuits there. The same year, the town of Peru, New York, was reorganized, and Adgate was elected to the office of town clerk, and reelected to the same office in 1794. He continued to serve in a number of positions, including supervisor in 1795, assessor from 1796 to 1797, as well as commissioner of schools in 1798. That same year, he was elected to 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 ...

. He also served as a lieutenant of

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

in the New York State Militia from October 7, 1793 to January 16, 1800 when his resignation was accepted. In 1799, he was appointed by

New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ha ...

John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...

to the first commission of the peace for

Essex County, New York Essex County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 37,381. Its county seat is the hamlet of Elizabethtown (CDP), New York, Eliza ...

, to be one of the judges of the court of common pleas. He remained in that position for several years. In 1815, Adgate was elected as a

Democratic-Republican The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed l ...

to fill the vacancy in the

caused by the death of

and served in that body for the remainder of the term, from December 4, 1815, to March 3, 1817. He chose not to run for reelection, and resumed his earlier occupations, including another term in the New York State Assembly in 1823.

Death

Adgate died at the

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 * ...

, on February 15, 1832, at the age of 64. He is interred at Ausable Chasm Cemetery, Ausable Township, Clinton County, New York.

References

External links

*''Who Was Who in America: Historical Volume, 1607–1896.'' Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1963. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adgate, Asa 1767 births 1832 deaths People from Canaan, New York Members of the New York State Assembly New York state court judges People from Peru, New York Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives