Peter Henry Silvester (February 17, 1807 – November 29, 1882) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the 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 Article One of th ...

from New York in the 30th and 31st United States Congress. Silvester was the grandson of prominent attorney and former U.S. Congressmen, Peter Silvester.

Early life

Silvester was born on February 17, 1807, in

Kinderhook, New York Kinderhook is a town in the northern part of Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 8,330 at the 2020 census,U.S. Census, 2020, 'Kinderhook town, Columbia County, New York' making it the most populous municipality in Columb ...

. He was the only son of Francis Silvester (1767–1845) and Lydia Van Schaack, a niece of Peter van Schaack and a descendant of the

Schuyler family The Schuyler family (Help:IPA/English, /ˈskaɪlər/; Dutch pronunciation: Help:IPA/Dutch, xœylər was a prominent Dutch family in New York and New Jersey in the 18th and 19th centuries, whose descendants played a critical role in the forma ...

. He was the grandson of Peter Silvester (1734–1808) and his wife, Jane Van Schaack. Silvester attended Kinderhook Academy, and graduated from

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

, in 1827. He 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 ...

in 1830 and practiced in

Coxsackie, New York Coxsackie ( ) is a town in Greene County, New York, United States. The population in the 2020 census was 8,382, a decrease from the 2010 census. It is the second-largest town in Greene County after Catskill. The name of the town is said to be ...

Career

He was originally a member of the

Democratic-Republican Party 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 li ...

, and joined the

National Republicans The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States which evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John ...

and then the Whigs. Silvester was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congresses (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1851). He did not run for reelection in 1850 and resumed practicing law. Like most Whigs, Silvester became a Republican when the party was organized in the mid-1850s. In 1860 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House, losing narrowly to John B. Steele.

Personal life

Silvester married Catherine Susan Bronk (d. 1858), the daughter of John Leonard Bronk and Alida Conine, and born in Coxsackie. She attended Troy Seminary in Troy New York. Her father was a lawyer and Columbia College graduate. Together, Silvester and Bronk had four children, of which two survived to adulthood: * Francis Silvester (1833–1903), a lawyer who served as District Attorney of Columbia County. * John L.B. Silvester (c. 1836)John L B Sylvester is listed in the New York State Census, 1855, Line 21. * Margaret Silvester, died aged 9 Silvester later retired to one of his farms in Coxsackie, where he lived until his death on November 29, 1882. He was interred in Kinderhook Cemetery, along with his family.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silvester, Peter Henry 1807 births 1882 deaths People from Kinderhook, New York Schuyler family American politicians of Dutch descent New York (state) Democratic-Republicans New York (state) National Republicans Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) New York (state) Republicans New York (state) lawyers People from Coxsackie, New York Union College (New York) alumni 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives