Background

Jacob Sloat Fassett, the son of Newton Pomeroy Fassett and Martha Ellen (Sloat) Fassett.

His mother’s father was Jacob Sloat, of Sloatsburg, builder of the first cotton-twine factory in the United States; his father’s forebears were originally residents of Vermont.

Education

He was educated in the public schools of his native city and in 1871 matriculated at the University of Rochester, from which institution he was graduated four years later with honors. After brief service as district attorney for Chemung County, he continued his studies at the University of Heidelberg (1880 - 81), then returned to the practise of law in Elmira.

Career

His interest in politics led to his election, in 1883, to the state Senate, to which he was returned by overwhelming majorities at the three successive elections, serving until 1891.

He waged an aggressive campaign in which he exposed the corruption under the Hill administration.

His defeat at the hands of his Democratic opponent, Roswell P. Flower, by a plurality of about 40, 000, was attributed to the opposition of organized labor, to his inability to rid himself entirely of responsibility for allowing the World’s Fair to go to Chicago, and to his failure to throw off the stigma of being known as “Platt’s man. ”

When refused the nomination in 1894, because of Platt’s opposition, he rejected the offer of second place on the state ticket.

Fassett entered national politics in 1880 when he was sent as a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago.

From 1888 to 1892 he served as secretary of the Republican National Committee.

As temporary chairman of the Republican National Convention at Minneapolis in 1892, he sounded the keynote of the campaign.

In 1904 he was elected to Congress where he served his district until 1911.

His characteristic - aggressiveness and fearlessness were tempered by party regularity.

From 1879 until 1896, as editor and proprietor of the Elmira Advertiser, he exhibited in his columns, at least in the later period, symptoms of revolt from the Platt machine in the state.

In later life Fassett devoted himself chiefly to his large business enterprises.

As a banker he was associated with the Second National Bank of Elmira and the Commercial State Bank of Sioux City, Iowa; as a ranch owner he had important interests in New Mexico.

Achievements

• He held important mining concessions in Korea and a controlling interest in the exploitation of the hardwood resources of the Philippine Islands. He also had large lumber holdings in Canada, and North Carolina and was financially interested in the manufacture of typewriters and of bottles.

Works

More photos

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  • Three Plays of the Argentine: Juan Moreira, Santos Vega, The Witches' Mountain

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Youth and Egolatry

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The three-cornered hat

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The City of the Discreet

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • The great Galeoto; a drama in three acts and a prologue 1914 Hardcover

    (Lang:- eng,spa, Pages 220. Reprinted in 2015 with the hel...)

  • Memorial address by Hon. J. Sloat Fassett on the battlefield of Gettysburg

    (Memorial address by Hon. J. Sloat Fassett on the battlefi...)

Connections

As a result of his marriage, February 13, 1879, to Jennie L. Crocker, daughter of Judge E. B. Crocker of Sacramento, California, he became extensively interested in Western ranching, mining, and banking.

Father:

Newton Pomeroy Fassett

Mother:

Martha Ellen (Sloat) Fassett

Wife:

Jennie L. Crocker