Stephen Strong (October 11, 1791 – April 15, 1866) was an American lawyer and politician and one term as a
U.S. Representative from
New York
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* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
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from 1845 to 1847.
Early life
Strong was born in
Lebanon, Connecticut
Lebanon is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,142 at the 2020 census. The town lies just to the northwest of Norwich, directly south of Willimantic, north of New London, and east of Hartford. The farm ...
and later moved to New York.
He was the son of Adonijah Strong (1760–1815) and Hepzibah (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Bliss) Strong.
Among his siblings was Bela William Strong (a lawyer who died in a duel in 1815), Lucy Strong, Abigail Strong (his twin who died in infancy), and Abigail Strong, who married Daniel C. Shearman.
His father was a farmer who fought in the
Revolutionary War and was at the
Battle of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...
.
He attended Oneida Academy, today known as
Hamilton College in
Clinton, New York.
Career
After studying the law, he was
admitted to the bar in 1822 and began to practice.
"He was an eminent advocate, famous not for his technical legal knowledge, but for his great tact and ingenuity, and wonderful resources of his own in the management of cases, and for his inspiring and magnetic powers of eloquent speech which was always more powerful than polished."
From 1836 to 1838, and again from 1844 to 1847, he served as
district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
of
Tioga County. In between his service as district attorney, he served as judge of Tioga County from 1838 to 1843.
Congress
Strong was elected as a
Democrat to the
Twenty-ninth Congress serving from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1847. During his time in the House, he served as chairman of the
Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State
The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives.
The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...
.
After
Ausburn Birdsall succeeded him in the House, Strong resumed the practice of law in
Owego, New York. He again served as judge of Tioga County from 1855 to 1859. In 1861, he moved to
Watertown, New York and practiced law there.
Personal life
On July 10, 1838, Strong was married to Abigail (née Whittlesey) Camp (1777–1858), the widow of William Camp, Strong's law partner, and daughter of Capt. Asaph Whittlesey, who was killed in the
Battle of Wyoming and was a descendant of Gov.
Thomas Dudley.
After her death in 1858, he remarried to Roxanna Bush (1789–1883), the widow of Norris M. Woodruff, a hardware merchant, and the eldest child of Eli Bush and Roxanna (née Terry) Bush, on June 19, 1861. He did not have any children of his own, but was revered by the children of both of his wives.
Death
He died in
Watertown, New York on April 15, 1866 and was buried at Brookside Cemetery in Watertown.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Stephen
1791 births
1866 deaths
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
19th-century American politicians