Alfred Peck Edgerton

Background

Alfred Peck Edgerton was born on January 11, 1813, at Plattsburg, Clinton County, New York, the son of Bela and Phebe (Ketchum) Edgerton.

Education

Edgerton was educated at the Plattsburg Academy.

Career

In 1833 he removed to New York, where he was a clerk in a mercantile house.

Four years later he became the agent of the American Land Company, and of the Messrs. Hicks, and settled at Hicksville, Ohio.

In 1845 he was elected as a Democrat to the Ohio Senate where his ability as a debater made him a prominent leader in his party.

After serving in this body 1845-46 and 1846-47, he was elected to Congress from the Toledo district, and served 1851-55.

Always a strong opponent of slavery on constitutional grounds, in Congress he vigorously opposed the rescinding of the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

He was chosen financial agent of the state by the Board of Fund Commissioners of Ohio, and in this capacity resided in New York City from 1853 to 1856.

The following year he removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, but remained a citizen of Ohio until 1862.

In 1859, in association with Hugh McCulloch and Pliny Hoagland, he leased the Wabash & Erie Canal, of which he was the general manager for nine years.

In 1868 he was the Democratic candidate for lieutenant-governor of Indiana but was defeated.

As a Democrat, he refused to support Horace Greeley in 1872 and came within six votes of being nominated for the vice-presidency on the O'Conor ticket, over John Quincy Adams, second.

After many years of retirement from active public service, early in November 1885, he was appointed by President Cleveland a United States Civil Service Commissioner, succeeding Dorman B. Eaton as president of the Commission.

Achievements

• In 1845 he was elected as a Democrat to the Ohio Senate where his ability as a debater made him a prominent leader in his party.

Works

• book

  • THIRD ANNUAL REPORT of the UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. January 16, 1885, to January 16, 1886. Second edition

Politics

His appointment was sharply criticized on account of his advanced age and a fear that he was not in sympathy with civil-service reform.

Edgerton published a letter declaring his dismissal was due to the fact that the President was a “mugwump—a mugwump of mugwumps, ” which, he defiantly announced, "I am not".

Views

Quotations: Edgerton published a letter declaring his dismissal was due to the fact that the President was a “mugwump—a mugwump of mugwumps. ”

Membership

Member of the U. S. House of Representatives

from Ohio's 5th district

Member of the Ohio Senate

from the Defiance and 7 other counties

president of the board of education of Fort Wayne, Ind.

Personality

He was good in political debates.

Connections

He was married, Feb. 9, 1841, to Charlotte, daughter of Charles Dixon, of Portland, Conn.

Father:

Bela Edgerton

Mother:

Phebe (Ketchum) Edgerton

Wife:

Charlotte Dixon

colleague:

Pliny Hoagland

colleague:

Hugh McCulloch