Heman Judd Redfield (December 27, 1788 – July 22, 1877) was an American politician from

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Life

Redfield was born on December 27, 1788, in Suffield,

Hartford County, Connecticut Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. According to the 2020 census, the population was 899,498, making it the second-most populous county in Connecticut. Hartford County contains t ...

. He was the son of Peleg Redfield (1762–1852) and Mary (Judd) Redfield (1765–1844). The family were neighbors of Oliver Phelps who opened a land sales office in Suffield, Connecticut, after the

Phelps and Gorham Purchase The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the sale, in 1788, of a portion of a large tract of land in western New York State owned by the Seneca nation of the Iroquois Confederacy to a syndicate of land developers led by Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gor ...

. The Redfields exchanged their small property in Suffield for of land in the Town of Farmington (in that part that was later separated as

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Ontario County, New York Ontario County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 112,458. The county seat is Canandaigua. The county is part of the Finger Lakes region of the state. Ontario County is pa ...

) and moved to the West in 1800. He attended

Canandaigua Canandaigua () is a city in Ontario County, New York, United States. Its population was 10,576 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Ontario County; some administrative offices are at the county complex in the adjacent town of Hopewell. ...

Academy from 1808 to 1810, and then studied law with

John Canfield Spencer John Canfield Spencer (January 8, 1788 – May 17, 1855) was an American lawyer, politician, judge and United States Cabinet secretary in the administration of President John Tyler. After graduating from Union College in 1806, Spencer practiced ...

Career

During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, he enlisted as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

and fought in the

Battle of Queenston Heights The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major engagement of the War of 1812. The battle took place on 13 October 1812 at Queenston in Upper Canada (now Ontario) and was a decisive British victory. United States regulars and New York (state ...

, and in November 1813 at

Fort George, Ontario Fort George was a military fortification in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used by the British Army, the Canadian militia, and the Jeffersonian democracy, Jeffersonian American Republic United States Army, Army for a brief per ...

where he received from the commanding general

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...

a brevet for gallant services. He was admitted to the bar in 1815, and commenced practice at Le Roy. He was appointed District Attorney of Genesee County in 1821. He was Postmaster of Le Roy for more than twenty years. He was a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

from 1823 to 1825, representing the eighth district which consisted of Allegany, Cattaraugus,

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) is an adult education and social movement in the United States that peaked in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Cha ...

Erie Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

, Genesee,

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, Niagara and

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counties. In 1826, he was offered the position of Special Counsel to the

New York State Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has existed in various forms since 1626, originally established under the Dutch c ...

for the trials against the abductors of

William Morgan William Morgan may refer to: Arts and entertainment * William De Morgan (1839–1917), pottery and tile designer in Britain * William Morgan (director) (1899–1964), English film director and editor * William Michael Morgan (born 1993), American ...

, but declined, recommending

who was chosen. On May 9, 1835, Redfield was elected a Canal Commissioner by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the Bicameralism, two houses that act as the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assem ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Michael Hoffman, but he declined to take office. The Legislature adjourned on May 11, and left Governor

William L. Marcy William Learned Marcy (December 12, 1786July 4, 1857) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as U.S. Senator, the eleventh Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of War and the twenty-first U.S. Secretary of State. In the la ...

to appoint John Bowman instead. When the

Holland Land Company The Holland Land Company was an unincorporated syndicate of thirteen Dutch investors from Amsterdam,Kirby, C.D. (1976). ''The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus''. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company ...

sold out their land in 1836, he became land agent for the new proprietors and moved to Batavia, New York. President

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. A northern Democratic Party (United States), Democrat who believed that the Abolitionism in the United States, abolitio ...

appointed Redfield Naval Officer of the Port of New York, and on November 1, 1853,

Collector of the Port of New York The Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, most often referred to as Collector of the Port of New York, was a federal officer who was in charge of the collection of import duties on foreign goods that entered the United States by ship at ...

. He resigned on July 1, 1857, and retired from politics.

Personal life

On January 27, 1817, he married Abigail Noyes Gould (1795–1841), and they had fourteen children. On April 14, 1846, he married Constance Collins Bolles (1813–1909), and they had four children. Redfield died in Batavia,

on July 22, 1877.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Redfield, Heman J. 1788 births 1877 deaths People from Le Roy, New York Erie Canal commissioners New York (state) state senators County district attorneys in New York (state) Collectors of the Port of New York New York (state) postmasters People from Suffield, Connecticut 19th-century members of the New York State Legislature