Fordyce Luther Laflin (March 9, 1824

Blandford Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour, north-west of Poole. It had a population of 10,355 at the United Kingdom 2021 census, 2021 census. The town is notable for its Georgian archit ...

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- April 27, 1887 Saugerties,

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) was an American businessman and politician from

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Life

He was the son of Luther Laflin (1789–1876) and Almira Sylvester Laflin (1801–1882). His family was in the

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

business from before 1800 until 1912 when the companies were bought by

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. His father and uncle had opened a factory at Saugerties in 1832 after their removal from

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

where they had had a gunpowder factory in Southwick. He was Supervisor of the Town of Saugerties for two years, and President of the Village of Saugerties in 1851. On September 21, 1851, he married Helen Miranda Burtt (d. 1896), and they had several children. He 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 ...

(Ulster Co., 1st D.) in

1858 Events January–March * January 9 ** Revolt of Rajab Ali: British forces finally defeat Rajab Ali Khan of Chittagong. ** Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide. * January 14 – Orsini affair: Pi ...

. He was an Inspector of State Prisons from 1870 to 1872, elected on the Democratic ticket at the

New York state election, 1869 The 1869 New York state election was held on November 2, 1869, to elect the Secretary of State, the State Comptroller, the Attorney General, the State Treasurer, the State Engineer, two Judges of the New York Court of Appeals, a Canal Commis ...

. He died of "

blood poisoning Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is compo ...

, resulting from an abscess which followed a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism." He was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Saugerties.

Sources

''DIED OF BLOOD POISONING''
in NYT on April 28, 1887

Cemetery records, at Hope Farm

History of the Laflins' gunpowder business, at The Cartridge Collector's Exchange

Political Graveyard
''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1867; pages 411, 487 and 515) {{DEFAULTSORT:Laflin, Fordyce Luther 1824 births 1887 deaths People from Blandford, Massachusetts People from Saugerties, New York New York state prison inspectors American manufacturing businesspeople Members of the New York State Assembly Town supervisors in New York (state) Deaths from sepsis in the United States 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature