(Excerpt from Message of the Governor of the State of New ...)
Excerpt from Message of the Governor of the State of New York: Transmitted to the Legislature January 7, 1903 Important changes were made at the last session of the Legis lature in the law relative to the institutions for the insane, which were, first, the substitution of boards of visitors for the old boards of managers; second, the centralization of all powers in the Commission of Lunacy, the details of management as here tofore being left with the superintendent. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Benjamin Barker Odell was born on January 14, 1854, at Newburgh, New York, the eldest son of Benjamin Barker and Ophelia (Bookstaver) Odell and a descendant of William Odell who emigrated from England and settled in Fairfield, Connecticut, about 1644. His father was in business at Newburgh and, attaining prominence in politics, served for several terms as mayor.
At eighteen, after attending the public schools and the Newburgh academy, Benjamin Odell joined the freshman class of Bethany College in West Virginia but transferred to Columbia College (Columbia University), where he excelled in athletics. He left before graduation, however, to enter business.
Beginning on an ice-delivery route in Newburgh owned by his father, Benjamin Odell engaged in the work with zest, quickly developed initiative, and succeeded in winning new customers. In a few years he had greatly widened his acquaintance, so that when he began to take an interest in politics he already had a large circle of personal friends in and about Newburgh. In 1894, without seeming to have personal ambition in the matter, he was persuaded to take the nomination for Congress in the Newburgh district and was reelected, but his service at Washington was without distinction. His interest in state politics, however, was stronger than ever. Before the end of his second term in Congress he was made chairman of the Republican state executive committee. When the war with Spain gave prominence to Theodore Roosevelt, Odell was quick to suggest him as the Republican candidate for governor. The victory of the Republican nominee in a doubtful year, 1898, enhanced the state chairman's prestige among the party chieftains.
In 1900 Odell himself was named for the governorship and in the McKinley-Roosevelt sweep of that year had no difficulty in carrying the state by a large majority. On entering office he promised a business man's administration. His first efforts were directed toward economies in the state government and in this he made marked headway. He understood and decried the wasteful organization and working of state bureaus. Most of the hostile criticism in his first term had to do with his retention of the party chairmanship while serving as governor. In 1902 he was nominated for a second term and was elected by a greatly reduced plurality. In his administration the state policy of indirect taxation was carried to the point where direct taxation practically ceased. Even his political opponents conceded his efficiency in office. He was called the most successful governor since Tilden.
He was the first of the so-called "machine" Republicans to defy the boss rule of Thomas C. Platt. He made appointments without consulting Platt and after the expiration of his second term as governor he continued his independent attitude as chairman of the Republican state committee. He was a thorough-going realist in politics; his whole success was based on his capacity to analyze and predicate actualities. In that, too, he was like Tilden. After his return to unofficial life his career as a party leader was uneven. Having declared himself in favor of Frank S. Black to succeed Chauncey M. Depew in the United States Senate, he felt compelled to withdraw his support from that movement and to acquiesce in Depew's reelection in January 1905. The insurance investigation of 1905 and 1906 upset his plans and gave Hughes the Republican nomination. Thereafter Odell never scored an important success; in 1910 he announced his retirement from politics.
(Excerpt from Message of the Governor of the State of New ...)
Benjamin Odell was a member of the Republican party, of the U. S. House of Representatives (1895-1899), a chairman of the Republican state executive committee.
Benjamin Odell was married first, in 1877, to Estelle Crist, who was drowned in the Hudson River in 1888; and second, in 1891, to Linda (Crist) Traphagen, the widowed sister of his first wife.
