Background

Dean Richmond was born on March 31, 1804 in Barnard, Vermont, the son of Hathaway and Rachel (Dean) Richmond and a descendant of John Richmond, one of the original purchasers of Taunton, Massachussets, in 1637. He was named Elkanah Dean, but apparently never used his first name. His parents, married in Taunton, soon afterward moved to Barnard, and in 1816 to Salina (now Syracuse), New York. There his father and three uncles engaged in the manufacture of salt, and upon the death of both his parents when he was seventeen Dean carried on in his father's place.

Education

He had little education and no cultural opportunities.

Career

In 1842 he moved to Buffalo, engaged in the grain forwarding business, and shared in the prosperity of the port after the completion in 1843 of the chain of railroads across the state from Albany.

Richmond was a member of the committee which drafted the plans for this consolidation and his political influence forced through the legislature the bill incorporating the New York Central despite determined opposition. He was at once made vice-president of the road and in 1864 succeeded Erastus Corning as president.

He was also an organizer, director, and, in the year of his death, president of the Buffalo & State Line Railroad, which in 1852 met a line extended east from Toledo and closed the gap between Buffalo and Chicago.

From 1850 until his death he served as chairman of the state Democratic committee and won a place among the famous political managers of New York.

At the crucial Democratic national conventions at Charleston and Baltimore in 1860 he headed the New York delegation, which at both conventions held the controlling vote.

He was one of the firmest of Douglas men, yet at Charleston, after the secession of the extreme Southerners, he dictated the vote which decided that a candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes of the original delegates to be nominated, and thus killed Douglas' chances and deadlocked the convention. Seemingly, he had hoped by this evidence of New York's desire for harmony to keep the Border Democrats in the convention and with their help still secure Douglas' nomination by a vote which would be impressive enough to command national support. At Baltimore, however, he aligned the decisive New York vote with the majority committee report in favor of excluding the seceded delegates. When on the fifth day Douglas sent Richmond a telegram offering to withdraw if the party could unite on another man, Richmond suppressed it, being by this time convinced that Douglas' supporters would not support a compromise candidate.

In 1862 Richmond secured the nomination and election of Seymour as governor of New York. He refused to support Seymour for president in 1864, however, feeling that McClellan would more vigorously prosecute the war. His last political services were in fostering a National Union Party which should unite Democrats and Conservative Republicans behind Andrew Johnson in opposition to the Radical Reconstructionists. With Thurlow Weed he helped to arrange the picturesque National Union Convention at Philadelphia in 1866. Afterwards he expected to control a state convention which should cement the union in New York and unite on a ticket headed by John A. Dix for governor. His death at the home of Samuel J. Tilden in New York City on the eve of the convention allowed the Tammany Democrats to seize control and nominate John T. Hoffman, thus dealing a death blow to the National Union movement.

Achievements

• His fleet of steam and sailing vessels on the Lakes made him widely known in the West; and to his Buffalo elevator properties he added property in Chicago and other ports. He was an originator and leading director of the Buffalo & Rochester Railroad, the westernmost of the seven separate corporations which, uniting in 1853, formed the New York Central.

Politics

In politics he was a leader of the "Barnburner" movement, a conspicuous member of the Utica convention of 1848, and a delegate to the Buffalo Free-Soil convention the same year. Afterwards he became a leader of the "Softs, " the Democratic faction which favored a compromise on the slavery issue.

Personality

All his life he swore to excess; he could not make a speech or even converse in grammatical language, and his handwriting was practically illegible. These things greatly handicapped him later when high offices were offered him which he did not feel qualified to accept. He was energetic, practical, friendly, and honest, however; quickly made a place for himself in the community, and by extending his markets built up a large and successful business.

Richmond was a heavy-faced man with a large frame and uncommon muscular strength.

Connections

He married, Feburary 19, 1833, Mary Elizabeth Mead. Of his eight children, six survived their father.

Father:

Hathaway Richmond

Mother:

Rachel (Dean) Richmond

Spouse:

Mary Elizabeth Mead

An alert, sagacious woman, who in managing her husband's estate after his death increased it from an estimated value of $1,500,000 to $6,000,000.